Butl 


938 
P19 


staxl 

6 

^     THE     \ 
r?  L5BRARt£S  S 


PAMPHLETS 


FOR 


THE    PEOPLE 


IN  ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  CLAIMS  OF  THE 
CHURCH  AND  METHODISM. 


BY   A    PRESBYTER    OE    MISSISSIPPI. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED    BY    H.    HOOKER, 

COR.  OF  CHESTNUT  AND  EIGHTH  STS. 
18  5  4. 


OiT.%* 


Q\ 


<*. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


Tiie  Author  having  been  prevented  by  illness  from 
furnishing  a  Prefatory  Note,  which  he  had  intended, 
in  due  season,  it  is  deemed  proper  to  say,  that  "  The 
Pamphlets  for  the  People"  were  written  with  an  aim 
to  plainness  and  the  avoidance  of  every  thing  like 
literary  ambition  or  scholastic  and  learned  references. 
In  certain  sections  of  our  country  the  high  preten- 
sion of  the  Methodists  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  and 
sometimes,  as  in  the  present  instance,  issues  in  violent 
attacks  upon  the  Church.  It  is  a  little  curious,  while 
there  is  no  sect  that  can  be  so  easily  and  conclusively 
shown  to  be  without  an  Apostolic  ministry ;  to  have 
been  of  so  recent  an  origin ;  to  have  derived  all  that 
bears  any  semblance  to  Gospel  order  and  truth  from 
the  Church  of  England ;  the  Methodist  should  still  be 
so  much  the  enemy  of  the  order  and  authority  of  that 

o  Church.  There  is  something  in  the  system,  we  fear, 
that  leads  on  to  boasting  and  self-satisfaction,  right  or 

*  "*  wrong.  It  is  a  wild  fire  that  always  finds  enough  in 
a  waste  world  to  keep  it  burning  and  fretting  for 

(3) 


4  ADVERTISEMENT. 

conquest.  If  we  mistake  not,  much  of  this  spirit  will 
be  seen  in  these  pages ;  and  the  hollowness  of  such 
pretensions  is  exposed  in  a  manner  that  must  take 
effect  with  fair  minds. 

Methodism  must  be  sounder  before  it  can  be 
stable,  and  the  good  it  seems  to  do  must  stand  on 
trial  better,  if  it  will  prove  in  the  end  any  thing  but 
a  spectacle  of  good  overcome  of  evil. 


.      >  » 


PAMPHLETS  EOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


NUMBER  OXE. 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.   R.  ABBEY,    OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHCRCff, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

In  the  spirit  of  your  and  my  beloved  master's  touch- 
ing injunction,  "  Love  one  another/'  I  take  up  my  pen  to 
address  you.  In  obedience,  also,  to  his  divine  command, 
"  If  ye  are  reviled  revile  not  again/'  I  trust  every  line  that 
I  shall  write  will  be  conceived  and  penned. 

I  have  read  your  book. 

I  beg  to  ask  wherefore  you  wrote  it  ? 

Either  the  Episcopal  Church,  against  which  it  is  aimed,  is 
a  church  of  Christ,  or  it  is  not.  If  it  be,  you  have  directed 
what  you  believed  would  be  a  vital  blow  at  a  part  of* Christ's 
own  body  !  Eighteen  hundred  years  after  his  crucifixion 
you  have  taken  up  the  Roman  spear  and  pierced  his  side  ! 

If  the  Episcopal  Church  is  not  a  church  of  Christ,  you, 
my  brother,  have  done  a  noble  duty,  for  which  your  own 
conscience  and  God,  the  judge  of  all  consciences,  will  com- 
mend you !  If  it  be  a  church  of  Christ,  both  will  one  day 
condemn  you. 

Your  book,  were  its  statements,  its  reasoning,  its  alleged 
facts,  its  assertions  true,  ought  to  inflict  so  fatal  a  wound 
upon  the  Episcopal  Church,  that,  bleeding  in  every  vein, 
like  her  crucified  Lord,  she  must  hang  her  smitten  and  spit- 
ten-upon  head,  and,  "  forsaken  by  her  God,"  die  amid  the 
insults  of  her  foes. 

If  your  book  be  true,  my  brother,  the  Episcopal  Church 
1*  (7) 


8  TAMPHLETS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

is  a  practical  falsehood,  and  the  millions  of  pious  men  and 
women  who  have  "  gone  to  rest"  in  the  embraces  of  its  faith 
are  lost,  and  the  "  few"  who,  living,  hope  to  die  therein  are 
evidently  "  without  hope  and  without  God  in  the  world !" 

If  your  book  be  true,  the  Bishops,  in  this  country  and  in 
England,  of  the  Episcopal  communion,  are  Impostors,  hold- 
ing up  to  the  world  an  Imposture,  and  are  "  deserving  of 
damnation,"  with  all  who  follow  their  teaching. 

If  your  book  be  true,  my  brother,  there  is  no  punishment 
that  God  holds  in  reserve  for  "  greater  transgressors,"  that 
ought  not  to  be  visited  upon  the  heads  of  the  Bishops  and 
Clergy  of  the  Episcopal  Church  for  assuming  to  be  "  called 
of  God,"  when  they  are  not. 

If  your  book,  therefore,  be  true,  the  Episcopal  Church  is 
false;  if,  on  the  contrary,  the  Episcopal  Church,  which  your 
book  seems  to  have  been  conceived  and  written  purposely 
"to  destroy,  if  possible,  from  the  face  of  the  earth,"  be 
proved  to  be  a  church  of  God,  though  with  human  imperfec- 
tions interwoven,  you  are  guilty  before  God,  before  the 
Christian  world,  and  especially  before  the  few  "  little  ones" 
within  this  church  whom  your  book  has  "  offended,"  of 
attacking  a  Branch  of  Christ's  Church,  of  wounding  his  elect 
members,  and  of  acting  with  the  enemies  to  his  name ;  of 
crucifying  your,  and  my,  and  their  Lord  afresh,  and  before 
the  scoffing  Sadducee  and  Pharisee  of  the  day,  putting  Him 
and  the  "few"  who  hope  "to  be  saved"  in  her  communion 
to  open  shame.  Either,  therefore,  you  have  done  "  God 
service,"  my  brother,  or  you  have  "borne  false  witness 
against  your  neighbor."  If  you  have  done  God  service,  the 
Episcopal  Church  is  no  church  "of  God,"  and  you  will 
hereafter  have  your  reward  for  your  zealous  efforts  to  destroy 
the  enemies  of  God;  but  if  you  have  borne  "false  witness 
against  your  neighbor,"  your  judgment  I  safely  may  leave  with 
Him  who,  if  He  will  not  let  "  a  sparrow  fall  to  the  ground" 
without  his  notice,  will  not  look  with  indifference  upon  the 


NUMBER   ONE.  9 

"  little  ones"  who  believe  in  Jesus,  whose  faith  and  hopes, 
whose  holy  trust  and  confidence  in  God,  (as  united  to  him 
through  the  union  that  is  in  his  church,)  your  book  may  have 
stricken  down  to  the  dust !  Ah,  my  brother,  may  God  in 
his  mercy  forgive  you  all  the  mischief  your  book  is  calculated 
to  produce  upon  the  minds  of  the  unlearned  and  timid- 
hearted  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  upon  the  young  and  the 
pious  females  therein,  and  for  all  the  opprobrium  that  the 
ignorant  and  prejudiced,  taking  courage  by  it,  in  other  de- 
nominations will  heap  upon  its  devoted  ministers.  If,  as  I 
trust,  and  wish  to  believe,  you  are  a  Christian  man,  who 
seriously  loves  Christ  and  the  souls  of  men,  you  will,  if  not 
in  this  world,  in  the  world  after  this,  deeply  regret  your  zeal 
in  persecuting  what  m ay  prove  to  be  the  church  of  God; 
but  in  that,  like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  you  did  it  ignorantly, 
through  unbelief — like  him,  I  hope,  you  will,  in  "  that  Day," 
be  forgiven. 

As  I  have  said,  I  have  read  your  book.  It  has  awakened 
in  me  no  other  emotions  than  painful  sorrow,  that  one  who 
wears  the  name  of  Christ,  and  holds  the  office  of  a  teacher 
of  that  religion  of  love  and  charity  which  "thinketh  no 
evil,"  should  write  such  a  book,  in  such  a  spirit,  against  a 
body  of  Christians  who  worship  the  same  God,  believe  in 
the  same  Saviour,  look  to  the  same  Heaven,  and  are  par- 
takers of  the  same  hope  with  yourself  and  your  brethren. 
/  am  a  minister,  also,  of  Christ,  and  serve  at  the  altars  of 
that  Branch  of  Christ's  Church  which  you  have  so  earnestly 
labored  to  bring  into  contempt,  by  holding  it  up,  in  your 
pages,  to  the  eyes  of  men  as  an  Ecclesiastical  Imposture. 
Though  one  of  the  youngest  Presbyters,  by  ordination,  in 
this  church,  and  though  you  are  as  it  were  Goltaii  among 
your  own  "hosts,"  yet,  taking  example  of  David,  I  will,  with 
a  few  smooth  stones  in  my  sling,  and  trusting  in  God,  go 
forth  to  meet  you. 

You  commence  your  attack  upon  the  Episcopal  Church 


10  PAMPHLETS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

by  saying,  you  wish  for  nothing  but  to  find  the  truth.  I  re- 
gret that  your  search  went  no  deeper  than  your  work  evinces, 
or  you  would  have  been  successful.  The  plumb-line  that 
would  sound  the  depths  of  the  church  must  penetrate  the 
strata  of  eighteen  centuries. 

You  seem  to  have  read  ecclesiastical  history,  not  so  much 
to  find  the  truth,  as  for  the  confirmation  of  certain  pre-con- 
ceived  opinions !  You  know  that,  by  private  interpretation, 
one  may  make  the  Bible  seem  to  support  almost  any  pre- 
conceived creed ;  so  history  may  be  so  read  as  to  seem  to 
give  its  testimony  in  favor  of  every  sect  that,  at  this  day, 
divides  the  church  of  God. 

It  is  not  my  intention,  my  brother,  to  say  aught  bitterly 
against  you.  I  do  not  attack,  but  defend  !  I  wish  only  to 
counteract,  so  far  as  I  may,  some  of  the  evils  your  book  is 
likely  to  do — evils  among  your  own  people,  by  increasing 
their  uncharitableness ;  evils  among  our  own  people,  by  lead- 
ing them  into  doubts;  and  evils  among  sinners,  by  giving 
them  cause  for  deriding  religion — for,  in  an  attack  of  this 
kind,  it  is  not  the  religious  party  attacked  that  suffers  alone, 
but  piety  and  religion — Christianity  at  large  suffers;  and 
the  conversion  of  the  world  is  retarded. 

I  have  said  I  am  a  minister  in  the  Episcopal  Churoii.  My 
object  in  writing  is  not  to  answer  your  book  (I  leave  that 
to  abler  pens,  if  there  need  be),  but  to  protest,  in  a  fraternal 
spirit,  against  its  teachings  and  conclusions.  Let  us  reason 
together. 

As  a  clergyman  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  which  you  have 
publicly  and  openly  attacked,  with  a  bitterness  and  hostility 
that  has  had  no  parallel  since  Thomas  Paine  attacked  the 
Bible,  and  said,  "  He  had  at  length  silenced  it  for  ever." 
I,  of  course,  hold  my  "  Orders"  from  a  Bishop  in  the  church — 
from  one  of  the  same  rank  with  that  of  the  estimable  minister 
and  pastor  of  Christ's  flock,  for  whom  and  his  office  you  have 
so  heartily  shown  your  contempt. 


M  HLBEB   ONE.  11 

In  your  book,  you  have  striven  with  all  your  learning 
and  ingenuity,  aided  by  a  very  extraordinary  Christian 
hatred  of  heart  breathing  through  every  LETTER,  to  destroy 
the  validity  of  the  Episcopal  orders  of  the  Bishop  of  Missis- 
sippi ;  and  in  your  anxiety  to  secure  this  end,  you  have  ef- 
fectually overthrown  your  own  right  to  the  ministerial 
office. 

You  labor  to  show  that  it  was  impossible  that  the  here- 
ditary right  of  ordination  could  have  come  down,  unbroken, 
through  a  line  of  successive  consecrated  Bishops.  To  cause 
this  assertion  to  appear  to  be  verified  by  facts,  you  make 
many  historical  references,  and  then  assume  sequiture  which 
do  not,  of  necessity,  follow. 

If,  however,  all  you  desire  to  prove  be  admitted,  the  issue 
reached  by  you  is,  that  there  is  no  valid  Christian  ministry 
on  the  earth  !  that  the  Episcopal  Ministry  being  incapable 
of  tracing  an  hereditary  descent,  all  other  ministry  is  equally 
so — for  the  same  causes,  your  "  dark  ages,"  with  its  ignorance 
and  vice  of  the  clergy,"  were  exactly  as  hostile  to  the  due 
transmission  of  presby terial  orders  as  of  Episcopal ;  therefore 
there  is  no  ministry  that  can  actually  prove  itself  originally 
established  by  the  Apostles  !  If,  therefore,  your  premises  be 
admitted,  then  the  church  which  the  Apostles  organized  is 
not  to  be  found  to-day  in  Christendom.  But,  if  it  i3  not  to 
be  found,  then  u  the  gates  of  hell  have  prevailed  against 
it  j"  and  the  words  of  Jesus  have  been  falsified  by  the  fact. 
He,  moreover,  said  he  would  he  with  his  church  u  to  the  end 
of  the  world."  If  his  church  is  not  to  be  found,  then  he 
cannot  be  with  it !  Either,  therefore,  the  church  which 
Christ  promised  "  to  be  with,"  and  against  which  he  said 
"the  gates  of  hell  should  not  prevail,"  is  now  on  earth,  and 
visible  and  recognizable,  or  Christ  has  promised  what  he  has 
not  performed,  and  cannot  perform.  If  then  the  church  of 
Christ,  founded  on  the  Apostles  and  Prophets,  was  to  con- 
tinue, it  must  now  exist;  and  as  Christ  promised  to  be  with 


12  PAMPHLET   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

it,  his  presence  consequently  is  in  it.  The  Episcopal  Church 
professes  and  clearly  proves  that  it  is  a  branch  of  this  Apos- 
tolic Church,  and  that,  therefore,  Christ,  ipse  facto,  is  with 
it,  and  that  it  is  in  Christ.  It  proves  its  claim  to  this  union 
with  the  divine  Head,  by  tracing  the  unbroken  succession  of 
its  ministry  from  the  Apostles ;  and  it  strikes  me,  reverend 
brother,  that  every  real  branch  of  this  one  apostolic  and 
ancient  church  is  bound  to  make  good  its  claim  to  union  with 
Christ,  the  Tree,  by  unbroken  ecclesiastical  lineage.  For 
instance,  I  happen  to  know  that  your  people  do  not  filiate 
with  the  new  sect  called  the  Campbellites,  asserting  that  they 
have  no  valid  orders  or  ministry.  You  deny  to  them  the 
conditions  necessary  to  a  lawful  Christian  communion.  And 
wherefore  ?  Because  they  have  no  hereditary  or  transmitted 
ministry.  Hence,  you  admit,  that  an  hereditary  ministry 
is  necessary  to  make  the  Christian  sacraments  valid,  in 
effects,  to  recipients.  Yet,  your  arguments  being  admitted, 
in  your  book  you  have  demolished,  by  many  mortal  blows 
struck  upon  different  portions  of  the  apostolical  succession 
chain,  all  valid  ministerial  succession.  Your  own  orders, 
therefore,  with  all  others,  begin  in  mid  air,  tejudice,  floating 
unsecured  in  the  abyss  of  "  the  dark  ages ;"  as  I  have  seen 
the  spider's  broken  thread,  when  torn  from  its  support,  tossed 
hither  and  thither  on  every  breeze — a  bridge  that  hath  an 
ending  but  no  beginning.  If,  therefore,  the  hereditary  trans- 
mission of  "  Episcopal"  orders  in  the  Episcopal  Church  fail  to 
reach  these  times  unbroken,  yet  those  of  "  the  ministry"  of 
the  "  01  rtoxxoi,"  which  you  think  form  their  "  greater  num- 
ber," may  stand  some  better  chance  (as  if  our  Lord  Christ 
left  aught  to  chance)  of  transmitting  this  virtue  of  "  orders," 
may  have  come  down  safely.  But,  my  brother,  you  over- 
look the  fact  that  if  the  Bishop's  consecrations  are  doubtful, 
and  not  to  be  proven  legal  and  strictly  canonical,  those  of  the 
ministry  whom  they  always  ordained  are  equally  so.  There- 
fore, if  the  Episcopate  has  not   transmitted  unbroken  the 


NUMBER  ONE.  13 

succession  "  tactual/'  (to  use  a  word  you  seem  to  hold  with 
favor,)  the  ministry  receiving  their  orders  from  this  doubtful 
source,  could  not  communicate  to  our  day  the  tactual  inherit 
ance  of  valid  orders.     Hence,  if  you  destroy  the  Bishop's 
line,  you  destroy  the  integrity  of  the  presbyterial,  and  you 
place    the    Christian    Churches    of  to-day  without   a   valid 
ministry.     If  you  destroy  the  Bishops,  you  ruin  yourselves ; 
for   all    the   vitality,  and    every   "condition"   whereby  the 
Evangelical  Methodist  Society  is  a  Church,  it  receives  through 
the  Episcopal   Church,   of  which  it  was,  less  than   seventy 
years  ago,  a  living  part — "  bone  of  its  bone  and  flesh  of  its 
flesh."     Destroy  the  Episcopal  succession  in  this  your  mater- 
nal church,  and  you  destroy  your  own  ministry,  and  ini-church 
the  whole  of  your  communion ;  for  whatsoever  life  you  have 
in  you  as  a  Church,  whatsoever  authority,  whatsoever  orders, 
whatsoever  sacraments,  all  of  which  I  confess  you  do  have  in 
a  certain  manner,  my  brother,  you  have  them  because  you 
derived  them !  and  it  was  from  the  Episcopal  Church 
that  you  derived  them.     If,  therefore,  she  has  no  authority, 
you  have  none.     You  rise  or  fall  with  her  !     Your  ecclesi- 
astical honor,  the  validity  of  your  minister's  orders,  the  sacra- 
mental efficacy  of  your  baptism  and  holy  communion,  depend 
upon  the  honor,  orders,  and  sacraments  of  the  English  Epis- 
copal  Church,  your   and    our    "  mother."     The  Spirit  of 
Christ    she    received    as  the  Church,  and — grateful    thanks 
to  our  dear  Lord  for  the   fulfillment  of  his    promise    ever 
to  be  with  his  Church,  was  not  withdrawn,  even  under  the 
prostrating  incubus  of  Rome's   usurpation  of  her  altars — 
a  portion  of  that  Spirit  of  Christ  went  icith  you  when  you 
left  her,  and  remains  in  you  still,  as  the  tree's  life  continu- 
eth  for  a  time  to  remain  in  the  severed  branch ;  and  this  life 
is  the  sole  basis  on  which  you  can  found  any  claims  to  be  a 
living  church.     If  you  deny  this,  (as  I  think  you  will  not,) 
then  you  must  admit  that  the  Campbellite  "  orders,"  author- 
ity, and  sacraments  are   equal  with  your  own.     In  therefore 


14  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

endeavoring  to  weaken,  and  if  possible  to  destroy  the  here- 
ditary succession  of  ministerial  authority  through  the  Epis- 
copate, you  have  destroyed  also  that  through  the  *pscT;3t>T'£pot, 
and  virtually  ignored  the  Christian  ministry  of  to-day,  by 
separating  it  from  all  connection  with  that  of  the  apostolic 
age.  By  thus  cutting  off  the  streams  from  the  fountain,  you 
have  made,  not  so  many  more  fountains,  but  only  stagnant, 
standing  pools.  You  have  also  tried  to  prove  to  "  the  world 
lying  in  wickedness,"  that  as  there  is  no  particular  authority 
for  ministerial  acts,  there  is  no  authority  ;  and  your  book  will 
have  the  tendency  not  only,  it  may  be,  of  keeping  sinners 
out  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  but  out  of  your  own  and  all 
other  churches.  The  tendency  of  your  book  is  therefore  to 
increase  infidelity. 

Having  now  endeavored  briefly  to  show  you  in  a  brotherly 
way,  the  true  character  and  issue  of  such  a  book  as  you  have 
thought  it  best  to  write,  and  how  that  it  does  not  only  mili- 
tate against  the  integrity  of  your  own  orders,  but  the  "  life- 
power"  of  your  own  extensive  communion,  and  how  that  it 
gives  the  world  fresh  vigor  to  run  the  race  of  transgression, 
and  to  "  despise  the  church  of  God,"  under  all  its  denomina- 
tional names ;  and  having  hinted  how  deeply  it  will  wound 
many  a  lowly  believer  in  the  Church,  for  we  have  the  meek 
and  lowly  of  heart  in  our  Church,  my  brother,  I  desire  (firmly 
but  kindly,  "for  the  servant  of  God  must  not  strive")  to 
meet  a  few  of  your  arguments.  Observe  that  this  is  no  reply 
to  your  book.  The  learned  and  judicious  man  of  God, 
against  whom  and  whose  holy  office  it  is  written,  is  well  able 
to  answer  you,  if  his  charity  will  cover  the  multitude  of 
offences  which  it  contains  against  him  of  a  personal  kind. 
The  bitterness  of  your  language,  and  extraordinary  style  of 
your  declamation,  perhaps,  should  keep  him  silent.  It  is 
true  you  preface  your  attack  by  saying,  with  somewhat  of 
self-laudation  I  fear,  that  you  "are  afflicted  with  a  plain, 
blunt,  uncouth  matter-of-fact  way  of  expressing  yourself;" 


NUMBER    ONE.  15 

and,  as  if  this  confession  would  authorize  and  excuse  all  sub- 
sequent rudeness,  your  language  afterwards  is  not  only 
"  harsh,  but  disrespectful,"  to  quote  some  of  your  own  words. 
It  is  as  if  a  man  given  to  much  tobacco-chewing  should  enter 
my  parlor,  saying:  "  Sir,  I  am  a  great  chewer,  and  my  friends 
say  that  I  spit  'amber'  on  all  sides,  no  matter  where  I  may 
be,  and  do  a  deal  of  mischief  thereby,  and  that  sometimes  I 
stain  and  injure  the  furniture,  when  'I  never  thought  of 
such  things;'  and,  sir,  'I  mean  no  such  thing.'  <I  have 
no  such  sentiment  within  me.'  If  any  spit  should  fall  from 
my  lips  upon  your  wife's  carpet  or  curtains,  I  beg  you  will 
consider  that  I  don't  intend  any  injury."  lie  ends  this 
preface,  perhaps,  by  discharging,  in  the  space  of  a  few 
minutes,  the  liquid  contents  of  his  mouth  upon  my  books, 
then  upon  my  table,  over  the  white  curtains,  and  finally  into 
my  face  !  Am  I  to  consider  his  prefatory  apology  license  for 
such  conduct  ?  Is  not  the  spitting  quite  as  bad  in  itself,  and 
in  its  effects,  as  if  no  such  prefatory  warning  had  been  intro- 
duced ?  The  Bishop  whom  you  have  spit  upon  so  freely, 
good  brother,  may,  therefore,  or  may  not  answer  you.  I 
have  not  seen  him  since  your  book  has  appeared.  He  does 
not  know  I  have  seen  it.  He  is  just  now  following  the  ex- 
ample of  his  predecessor,  St.  Paul,  in  an  apostolical  journey, 
"  visiting  the  churches  of  God"  planted  in  the  north  parts 
of  his  Diocese,  so  lately  "  a  wilderness,"  and  probably 
your  book  has  not  crossed  his  path  to  wound  his  heel  as  he 
journeys.  I  write,  simply  from  a  desire  to  do  what  lies  in  my 
humble  power  (as  it  will  be  some  time  yet  to  his  return)  to 
counteract  the  influence  of  a  book  which  I  feel  you  will  ere 
long  begin  to  regret  ever  having  written,  at  least  in  the 
spirit  with  which  it  is  penned.  Be  assured,  my  brother, 
"  your  dealing  will  come  down  upon  your  own  pate"  with  a 
force  that  will  eventually  do  you  and  the  cause  for  which  you 
have  written  irreparable  loss ;  but  in  the  meanwhile  we  musf 
see  that  the  poison  go  not  deeper  in  the  hearts  of  our  own 

2 


16  PAMPHLETS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

people,  into  which  you  have  assayed  to  infuse  it.  But  I  will 
not  longer  detain  you  from  a  consideration  of  some  of  your 
arguments,  which  I  shall  review  in  the  order  in  which  they 
occur  to  me. 

You  have  asserted  that  Holy  Scripture  shows  no  ground 
on  which  the  Apostolical  (or  ministerial,  for  this  is  virtually 
the  position  you  take)  succession  can  stand;  and  refer,  in 
proof  of  your  declaration,  to  certain  texts  which  you  call  the 
"  sum  of  scripture  authority  for  the"  Bishop  "  succession." 
These  verses,  although  unquestionably  involving  the  inten- 
tion of  succession,  are  not  to  be  insisted  upon.  I  will  quote 
another  which,  though  Paul  speaketh  it,  you  will  acknow- 
ledge to  be  the  voice  of  Christ.  2  Corinth,  v.  20:  "Now 
then  we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ." 

This  is  a  figure  drawn  from  the  state.  An  ambassador 
receives  a  commission  to  do  certain  acts  from  a  higher  power, 
and  truly  represents  this  power.  It  is  "  authority"  to  act 
that  makes  the  acts  of  an  ambassador,  so  commissioned  and 
sent,  to  differ  from  the  same  acts  done  by  a  simple  citizen. 
A  true  and  lawful  ambassador  must,  therefore,  be  sent  by  a 
superior  Power;  must  be  lawfully  commissioned  with  author- 
ity to  act  for  that  power;  and,  in  case  of  death,  authorized  to 
convey  and  transmit  his  commission  and  seal  of  office  to  a 
successor  as  charge  d' affairs;  who  shall  hold  and  stand  in 
Ms  place  with  equal  authority,  ex-officio,  and  during  the  term 
that  he  retains  these  delegated  powers. 

Thus  Paul  to  Timothy  says :  "  The  things  thou  hast  heard 
of  me  among  many  witnesses,  the  same  commit  thou  to 
faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  others  also."  Here 
we  have  the  beginning  of  the  transmission  of  the  ambassado- 
rial commission  of  teaching  the  gospel  and  extending  the 
church,  which  being  fully  committed  to  Paul  by  his  King 
and  Lord,  is  here  conveyed  by  the  apostle  to  Timothy,  who 
is  commanded  to  convey  it  in  his  turn  to  "  faithful  men," 
who,  when  they   depart   this   life,   must   teach  others   also. 


NUMBER    ONE.  17 

These  are  the  beginnings  of  the  succession  of  the  ministry, 
not  only  through  Paul,  but  in  parity  of  power  through  all 
the  other  apostles,  within  the  several  branches  of  the  one 
Church  apostolic  planted  by  them ;  which  branches  remain 
to  this  day,  in  more  or  less  integrity,  in  Europe,  Asia,  and 
Africa;  for  we  "  Episcopalians"  do  not  assert  nor  claim,  let 
me  say,  in  passing,  to  be  the  only  true  Church.  We  are  but 
a  hranch,  or,  if  it  please  you,  a  "  tendril"  of  the  living  tree 
of  the  Church  apostolic,  which  comprises  the  Church  in  Eng- 
land ;  the  Greek  Church  (the  daughter  of  the  Apostolic 
Church  of  Corinth  and  Macedonia,  planted  by  Paul)  ;  the 
Asia  Minor  and  Nestorian  Branch,  planted  by  St.  John  and 
Paul;  the  Eastern  Churches,  lately  visited  by  Layard, 
planted  by  Thomas;  the  Abyssinian  and  Egyptian  Churches, 
planted  by  Mark,  &c. ;  in  all  of  which  is  retained  the  here- 
ditar}r  commission  of  the  apostolic  ministry  through  a  suc- 
cessive Episcopate.*  As  you  are  a  reader,  you  must  be 
familiar  with  the  narrative  given  by  the  talented  and  learned 
dissenting  minister,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Wolff,  who,  a  few  years 
ago,  traveling  in  the  East,  the  fountain  of  our  common 
faith,  called  on  the  Arminian  Apostolic  Bishop.  He  says,  in 
his  Journal :  "  When  I  called  on  this  Bishop,  informing  him 
that  I  was  a  missionary,  he  asked  me  l  What  Bishop  sent  me 
out  r 

"  The  same  question  was  put  to  me,"  he  adds,  "  by  the 
Christian  Archbishop  of  the  Arminian  nations ;  by  the  whole 
body  of  the  Bishops  of  the  ( Apostolic  Churches'  of  Asia 
Minor;  and  by  the  head  Bishop  of  the  Greek  Church  at 
Constantinople  :  '  What  Bishop  sent  you  out  V 

11 1  replied  to  them,  '  My  internal  voice  sent  me  forth  V 
"  Upon  this   they  answered,   '  Moses  heard  the  voice  of 
God  upon  Horeb;  but  God  added  thereto  miracles,  in  order  that 
Pharoah  might  be  forced  to  acknowledge  him  as  sent  by  God 

*  I  will  purposely  omit  the  Roman  Episcopate  in  all  my  arguments. 


18  PAMPHLETS   FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

to  him.  Hast  thou  miracles  ?  The  Levites  had  to  receive 
their  commission  from  Moses ;  and  Christ  made  the  same 
provision  in  his  church.  He  imparted  the  gift  of  miracles 
to  the  apostles  in  sending  them  forth ;  but  they  instituted 
Bishops  by  the  imposition  of  hands  j*  and  the  apostles  ap- 
pointed them  to  ordain  ministers  in  like  manner.  If  you, 
Joseph  "Wolff,  are  an  extraordinary  minister,  PROVE  it  by 
miracles!  If  an  ordinary  one,  WHO  laid  hands  on  you  and 
made  you  such  f  Your  internal  voice  may  be  evidence  to 
you,  but  not  to  us  V  " 

To  this  candid  narrative,  Kev.  Dr.  Wolff  has  the  honesty 
to  add : — 

"  The  very  fact  that  all  the  Eastern  Churches,  (where 
the  gospel  first  arose,)  without  one  single  exception,  have 
Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons,  and  the  very  fact  that  any 
other  church  is  not  hnoion,  is,  to  me,  a  sufficient  proof  that 
Episcopacy  is  of  divine  origin  ;  and  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
'  Apostolic  succession'  is  a  spiritual  doctrine." 

u  Credimns  apostolo,  sed  non  credimus  in  apostolum"  has 
been  the  doctrine  of  the  church  in  all  ages  upon  this  sub 
ject,  my  brother,  and  will  continue  to  be  "to  the  end  of  the 
world."  Fraternally, 

Justus. 

*  A  fountain  may  be  produced  by  a  direct  miracle;  but  miracles  are  not 
afterwards  necessary  to  create  the  streams.  The  one  primary  miracle  is 
in  perpetual  activity  in  the  streams  ;  which  yet  flow  by  natural  laws.  So 
is  the  apostolic  office,  which  in  miracles  began. 


PAMPHLETS  POR  THE  PEOPLE. 


NUMBER  TWO. 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.  R.  ABBEV,  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHTRCH, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

From  what  I  have  written  and  quoted  at  the  close  of 
my  last  Pamphlet,  you  perceive  that  you  err  in  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  American  Episcopal  Church  claims  to  be  the 
only  true  Church;  and  that  therefore  its  claims,  from  the 
apparent  insignificancy  of  its  numbers  compared  with  your 
own  large  communion,  compared  with  "  the  Thousands  of 
Judah,"  are  not  to  be  listened  to.  If  you  have  heard  Epis- 
copalians assert  the  exchisiveness  of  the  "  Episcopal  Church 
in  America/'  you  were  unfortunate  in  your  authorities  ;  but 
it  strikes  me  with  surprise  that  one  so  deeply  read,  ecclesi- 
astically, as  you  appear  to  be,  should  have  been  led  astray 
by  uninformed  churchmen.  The  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
United  States  is  indeed  the  "few"  compared  with  "the 
many"  who  are  not  of  her  communion.  But  she  is  not  alone 
the  Episcopal  Church,  as  I  have  shown  you  in  my  former 
Pamphlet.  To  the  33  Bishops  and  1650  Clergymen,  and 
111,000  of  her  communicants,  add  the  28  Bishops  and 
16,000  Clergy  of  the  English  branch,  and  the  40,000  of  the 
Greek  Clergy  in  Russia,  and  her  millions  of  communicants; 
the  30  Bishops  of  the  kingdom  of  Greece,  and  of  Clergy  and 
of  communicants  more  than  one  million;  add  the  millions  of 
the  Clergy  and  communicants  of  the  church  in  Asia  Minor, 
in  Armenia,  in  Persia,  in  Syria,  in  Egypt,  in  Cyprus  and 
Crete  ;  and  you  must  perceive  that  by  no  means  insignificant 
2*  (19) 


20  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

are  the  Episcopalians — by  which  defining  term  all  intelli- 
gent churchmen  mean  churches  that  are  governed  by  here- 
ditary Bishops.* 

It  is  an  error  much  prevailing  in  this  country  among  a 
large  portion  of  the  community,  that  there  are  no  Christians 
in  the  world  but  they  who  speak  the  English  tongue  !  But 
such  persons  should  be  kindly  reminded,  that  before  the 
English  tongue  was  a  language  of  the  earth,  the  Christian 
Church  was  full  of  Christians  on  the  continent  and  in  foreign 
lands ;  and  that  those  foreign  Churches  do  still  hold  (more 
or  less  pure)  the  Christian  faith.  It  is  the  impression  of 
men,  who  pass  for  intelligent  ones,  that  the  Kussians  are 
Pagans,  and  if  not  Pagans,  at  least  Mohammedans;  and  I 
heard  an  "  intelligent  lady"  express  her  surprise  that  Jenny 
Lind  "  could  be  a  Christian,  coming  from  Sweden."  Such 
persons,  and  they  are  not  a  few,  therefore,  count  the  whole 
world,  out  of  the  United  States,  as  out  of  Christ;  and  adding 
up  the  Presbyterians,  and  Baptists,  and  Methodists,  "  with 
their  variations,"  put  them  against  the  only  other  denomina- 
tion they  charitably  recognize  as  "Christian,"  (the  few 
Episcopalians)  and  say,  "  amid  this  teeming  multitude  of 
Christians — this  great  army  of  the  Lord  of  hosts — where  is 
your  Church  ?"f 

But,  my  brother,  God  likes  not  much  to  have  his  people 
numbered.  You  have  read  when  "  Satan  provoked  David  to 
number  Israel,"  how  that  "  God  was  greatly  displeased  with 
this  thing ;"  and  David,  trembling  and  repentant,  and 
clothed  in  sackcloth,  confessed  that  he  had  done  evil  in  look- 
ing to  the  strength  of  numbers  rather  than  to  the  presence 

*  Episcopus  gave  us  the  word  Bishop,  not  by  translation,  but  by  -pvo- 
gcbSsivQ  pronunciation.  1st,  Piscopus;  2d,  Biscopus ;  4th,  Eishcop ;  5th 
and  last  change,  Bishop.  An  Episcopal  Church  is,  therefore,  properly, 
a  church  with  governing  Bishops.  Henco  the  interpolation  of  "  Episco- 
pal," to  cover  your  own  "  Bishops,"  in  your  nomen  Ecclesiasticus. 

f  "Abbey  on  Apostolic  Succession,"  pp.  180.  Mr,  Abbey,  numbering 
his  people^  makes  1,319,171  souls  in  Methodisdom, 


NUMBER  TWO.  21 

of  God,  and  cried  :  "  Is  it  not  I  that  commanded  the  people 
to  be  numbered  '(  even  I  it  is  that  have  sinned  and  done 
evil  indeed." 

God,  my  brother,  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for 
ever  j  and  what  he  dislikes  at  one  time  equally  offends  him 
at  another.  But  if  you  make  great  numbers  an  argument 
that  you  are  "  the  Church,"  the  true  Israel  of  God,  then  it 
is  fair  to  make  use  of  your  own  arguments  by  which  to  judge 
you.  "  If  might  be  right,  then  the  mightier  one  the 
tighter" 

To  increase  "  the  tale  of  bricks"  that  you  wish  to  throw  at 
the  two  powerful  mitres,  you  fraternally  add  in  your  Bap- 
tist neighbors  and  the  Presbyterians ;  thus  you  state  your 
figures : 

Baptists  of  all  organizations, 090,S57 

Presbyterians, 659,2J8 

Methodists, 1,319,171 

Other  Orthodox  Churches, 337,689 

"  The  few"  Episcopalians, 111,600 

Making  a  total  of    .         .         .         .         3,306,975 

"  This  is  the  numbering  of  Israel. " 

It  is  pleasant,  let  me  remark  by  the  way,  to  observe  this 
fellowship  between  you  and  your  Presbyterian  and  Baptist 
brethren,  whom  usually  you  love  not  mainly  well,  I  imagine. 
if  your  newspapers  and  monthlies  and  their  newspapers  and 
monthly  publications  are  any  test  of  your  mutual  love.  In 
your  and  their  publications  I  see  that  very  loving  blows  are 
dealt,  in  a  fraternal,  Christian-like  way — kisses  of  peace, 
doubtless,  between  your  Churches.  In  one,  a  Presbyterian 
editor  is  shocked  at  the  "  irregularity  of  the  orders"  of  the 
Methodists,  and  their  presumptive  and  prelatical  pride  u  in 
calling  their  Superintendents  '  Bishops/  "  In  a  Methodist 
paper,  the  learned  editor  taps,  with  the  velvet  softness  of  a 
leopard's  paw,  his  "  brother"  Presbyterian  editor  for  his 
M  predestination,  his  synodical  system,  his  deficiency  of  re- 


22  PAMPHLETS    POR    THE    PEOPLE. 

vival  graces;"  while  one  of  your  Baptist  brothers,  after 
abusing  your  church  polity,  says  that  he  had  as  lief  have  his 
children  spit  upon,  as  sprinkled  as  the  Methodists  baptize. 
"War  with  each  other,  but  union  against  the  Episcopa- 
lians'" seems  to  be  your  motto,  brother.  Your  fellowship 
for  this  time  reminds  me  of  three  boys  named  John  Calvin, 
Ezekiel  Rogers  Holliman,  and  John  Wesley  Asbury,  who, 
though  orphans,  were  constantly  at  quarrel-ends  about  their 
ancestors,  wealth,  respectability,  and  importance.  One  day 
they  got  fairly  to  blows,  and  began  dealing  right  hard 
knocks  upon  one  another's  heads.  Ezekiel,  who  was  a 
strong-backed  lad,  at  last  got  them  both  by  the  collar,  and 
was  dragging  them  to  souce  them  into  the  mill-pond ;  but 
John  Asbury  picked  up  a  piece  of  an  anxious  seat  that  for- 
tunately was  lying  near,  and  would  have  knocked  him 
bodily  down  with  it,  when  a  pale  youth  named  William 
Canterbury  White,  coming  up,  affectionately  interfered. 
Now  this  lad  had  a  father  living,  and  could,  as  they  well 
knew,  trace  his  ancestry  up  to  the  very  establishment  of  the 
kingdom  by  the  first  king  of  it;  consequently  his  arrogance 
and  claims  equally  offended  them.  They  felt  therefore  on 
common  ground  when  he  was  present.  Hence  John  Calvin 
no  sooner  saw  who  it  was  that  was  interposing,  than  he  caught 
up  a  fragment  of  a  great  rock,  broken  off  from  an  inaccessi- 
ble cliff,  called  "  Frail  Perseverance/'  and  would  there- 
with incontinently  have  broken  his  head  in ;  while  Ezekiel 
Holliman,  catching  him  by  the  nape  of  the  neck  cried,  "  Duck 
him  !  he  hates  water  !"  Moreover,  Wesley  Asbury  turning 
the  fragment  of  the  anxious  seat  against  him,  forced  him  to 
retreat;  thereby  clearly  proving  that  this  Wflliam  White 
had  no  ancestors ;  "  for,"  saith  Cromwell's  great  Captain, 
"  three  round  drubbing  knocks  are  better  than  one  argumen- 
tation; and  these  strong  men,  if  they  are  i'the  wrong,  are 
likelier  to  be  right  than  one  weak  rogue." 

But,  my  brother,  as  I  said  before  introducing  my  little. 


M   MBER    TWO.  23 

illustration,  if  you  count  truth  by  noses,  then  I  must  use  the 
same  mode  of  reasoning  against  you.  If  3,306,975,  small 
and  great,  make  you  right,  then  3,306,976  on  the  Episcopal 
side  would  make  you  wrong.  Now  I  can  show  you  very 
easily,  by  parity  of  reasoning,  that  you  have  affixed,  indelli- 
bly,  the  seal  of  error  to  your  side.  The  Episcopal  Branch 
of  the  Church,  in  the  United  States,  numbers  but  little  more 
than  111,000  members  as  you  state;  here,  therefore,  you  are 
"  The  church/'  as  you  please  to  argue.  In  England  the 
number  of  Episcopalians  is  9,000,000,  small  and  great,  and 
of  Episcopalian  clergymen  more  than  10,000.  (May  God, 
who  punished  David  for  numbering  Israel,  pardon  this  enu- 
meration on  my  part ;  but,  brother,  you  have  forced  me  to 
resort  to  it,  and  yours  be  the  sin.  "They  that  take  the 
sword  must  perish  by  the  sword.")  In  Scotland  and  Ireland, 
the  Episcopal  Church  numbers  2,300,000  communicants.  I 
will  here,  as  I  have  hitherto  done,  omit  the  Roman  commu- 
nion entirely.  In  Russia  the  Greek  Church  far  exceeds  the 
English,  and  in  the  Turkish  empire  alone,  are  8,000,000  of 
Episcopal  Christians,  descendants  of  the  very  churches  to 
which  Paul  wrote  his  Greek  Epistles — the  Thessalonian, 
Corinthian,  and  Ephesian  Churches.  Ah,  my  brother,  if 
numbers  make  right,  and  Christian  truth  can  be  reached  by 
slate  and  pencil,  you  perceive  that  you  are  not  the  Church 
after  all.  You  are  out-counted  by  many  millions  of  Episco- 
palian noses.  All  the  Methodists  in  the  world  do  not  reach 
3,000,000.  Even  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  outnumhers 
you — therefore,  you  being  judge,  that  Church  is  the  true 
Church  of  God.  You  perceive,  therefore,  the  fallacy  of  your 
mode  of  argumentation,  my  brother;  it  being,  as  you 
know,  a  bad  rule  that  worketh  not  both  ways. 

And  here  let  me  say  that  you  do  not  treat  us  fairly — our 
little  111,650  !  You  know  well  we  constitute  not  the  whole 
Episcopal  Church — the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  alone — 
but  that  we  are  in  communion  with  that  of  Canada,  of  Eng- 


24  PAMPHLET   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

land,  of  Ireland,  of  Scotland,  and  the  Colonial  Churches  of 
the  East  Indies ;  which  alone,  without  going  out  of  the 
English  tongue,  far  transcend  in  numbers  your  quaternion 
affiliation  of  3,306,975.  It  would  have  been  very  easy, 
doubtless,  for  three  Ishmaelites  to  have  whipped  "  little" 
Benjamin  alone ;  but  when  the  other  brethren  are  added  to 
his  side,  the  eagle  of  victory  would  be  likely  to  perch  on 
Benjamin's  standard. 

But  bear  with  me  a  little  farther,  touching  this  argument 
of  yours  upon  figures.  The  great  synagogue  of  Jews  dwell- 
ing in  Borne,  in  the  year  69,  A.  D.,  ought  to  have  rejected 
the  Church  of  Christ,  formed  of  a  few  "  in  the  house  of 
Priscilla  and  Aquilla,"  because  the  Jews  only  outnum- 
bered them,  " thirty  to  one;"  nay,  the  Christians  in  Borne, 
or  in  the  whole  world,  compared  with  the  Jews,  were  not 
"  one  in  forty,"  while  the  number  of  the  Jews  was  3,200,000. 
According  to  your  reasoning  the  Christian  Church,  because 
few  and  despised,  was  not,  therefore,  to  be  regarded  as  the 
Church  of  God.  On  the  contrary,  the  Jews  would  honestly 
believe  that  to  revile  it,  and  attempt  to  destroy  it,  for  its  ar- 
rogant pretensions  to  be  the  Church,  were  to  do  God  service ; 
just  as  you,  my  brother,  misled  by  counting  beards,  and 
finding  you  had  "  thirty  to  one"  on  your  side,  honestly 
thought  you  were  doing  God  service  in  writing  your  book  to 
try  and  destroy  it. 

There  is  another  parallel  which  occurs  to  me  as  I  am  dis- 
posing of  this  part  of  your  argument  "  of  numbers,"  and  it 
is  this :  You  are  well  read  in  the  Bible,  I  doubt  not,  and 
need  not  to  be  taught,  only  reminded,  that  God  had  but  one 
Church  in  Judea  when  Behoboam  behaved  very  unwisely, 
and  there  was  a  schism  in  the  Church.  Ten  tribes  withdrew 
bodily,  and  set  up  another  worship  and  another  temple  upon 
an  opposition  Mount  Zion.  Jeroboam  was  the  John  Wesley 
of  this  movement.  Now,  here  we  behold  a  church  actually 
divided — ten  tribes  on  one  side  and  hut  two  left  on  the  other. 


NUMBER   TWO.  25 

By  your  chosen  mode  of  argument,  the  Ten-tribe  schism 
ought  to  be  theCuTTB.es j  inasmuch  as  it  outnumbered  the  other 
side  not  quite  thirty  to  one;  but  as  the  number  of  Israel,  or 
of  the  Methodist  party,  (pardon  me,  but  suffer  this  appella- 
tion for  the  sake  of  argument,)  you  know,  my  brother,  was 
2,900,000,  and  the  number  of  Judah  and  Benjamin  less  than 
500,000,  the  disparity  was  quite  enough,  where  numbers 
decide,  to  give  to  Israel's  side  all  the  distinctive  marks  of  the 
true  Church,  viz.  :  the  priesthood,  the  sacrifices,  the  shechinah 
of  glory,  and,  above  all,  the  dazzling  promises  concerning 
Messias.  Doubtless,  many  years  afterward,  when  the  men 
of  Judah  spoke  of  their  "  high  claims/'  as  holding  the  suc- 
cession of  tbe  Aaronic  priesthood,  the  presence  of  God  in 
the  shechinah,  the  true  altar  of  incense  and  lamb  of  sacri- 
fice, and  that  therefore  Messias  would  come  of  them,  they 
were  mocked  and  scorned  by  the  men  of  Samaria,  and  met 
with  such  words  as  these  :  "  You  the  true  Church  of  God 
and  his  Messias  !  Your  claims  are  too  high.  We  number 
nearly  3,000,000  of  the  children  of  Abraham,  and  you  but  a 
handful  in  Jerusalem  and  its  suburbs  !  You  'the  Church/ 
I  sympathize  with  your  modesty."* 

Nevertheless,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  God  recognized,  be- 
fore the  world,  that  Judah  and  little  Benjamin  were  his 
Church,  by  honoring  it  with  the  divine  incarnation  therein 
of  his  Son ;  while  the  ten  tribes,  corrupting  their  worship, 
had  been  long  before  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven, 
and  to  this  day  are  not. 

Numbers,  therefore,  my  brother,  are  no  criterion  for  de- 
ciding upon  claims  of  being  the  Church  of  God.  I  mean 
large  numbers  are  not  a  test  as  to  where  lies  the  truth.  On 
the  contrary,  if  numbers  are  to  be  taken  into  consideration 
at  all,  it  is  the  smaller  number  that  is  more  likely  to  be 
u  God's  peculiar  choice."  In  Acts,  chapter  xx.  verse  20, 
you  will  read  these  words  : 

*  Page  150  of  Abbey's  Apostolical  Succession. 


26  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

"For  many  are  called  but  few  are  chosen." 

Here  our  111,650  have  no  small  advantage  over  your 
1,319,171,  my  brother. 

In  the  seventh  chapter  of  Matthew  you  may  also  read : 

"  Strait  is  the  gate  and  few  there  be  that  find  it." 

This  verse  is  clearly  on  our  side. 

You  also  smile  (pleasantly,  no  doubt,  as  I  believe  you  are 
a  man  "  of  cheerful  countenance")  at  the  small  figure  our 
1,650  clergymen  make,  compared  with  your  Tens  of  Thou- 
sands. Verily,  my  brother,  does  not  our  blessed  Master  say 
that  in  his  vineyard  "  the  laborers  are  /etc."  Your  thou- 
sands not  possibly  coming  under  this  designation,  cannot 
(would  that  I  could  get  around  this  fatal  issue  for  you)  be 
laborers  in  the  vineyard  of  which  he  speaks. 

Moreover,  the  Church  of  God  which  was  saved  in  the 
ark  was  a  few  church — considerably  smaller  than  the  Epis- 
copal Church  in  America,  seeing  that  St.  Peter  says  that 
only  eight  persons  constituted  its  communion  !  This  is  a 
somewhat  greater  disparity,  compared  with  the  Episcopal 
Church,  than  "  one  in  forty." 

"  I  have  a  few  names  even  in  Sardis,"  said  Jesus,  "  and 
they  shall  walk  with  me  in  white,  for  they  are  worthy." 

Our  being  "  few  in  number,"  therefore,  brother,  will  not 
cause  our  blessed  Lord  to  despise  us.  This  is  our  abiding 
consolation.  If  we  are  few  and  despised,  we  remember  that 
Jesus  has  said,  that  though  "  wide  is  the  gate  and  broad  is 
the  way  that  leadeth  unto  death,  and  many  go  in  thereat ;  yet 
narrow  is  the  gate  that  leadeth  unto  life,"  and  it  is  the  few 
that  find  it.  For  safety,  therefore,  my  brother,  and  from 
other  considerations,  I  should  prefer  to  take  my  choice  with 
the  111,650,*  than  with  the  one  million,  three  hundred 

AND    NINETEEN    THOUSAND,    ONE   HUNDRED   AND   SEVENTY- 
ONE  Fraternally, 

Justus. 

*  See  p.  156,  of  Mr.  Abbey's  Book. 


PAMPHLETS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


NUMBER  THREE. 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.  R.  ABBEY,  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHDRCH, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

In  my  last  number  I  think  that  I  proved,  that,  hy 
your  own  reasoning,  the  Episcopalians  are  The  Church. 
With  your  permission  I  will  now  examine  your  argument 
against  the  Apostolic  Succession,  based  upon  Paul,  "  the 
last  and  least  of  the  Apostles." 

You  very  justly  say,  that  if  the  "succession"  be  built 
upon  the  Apostles,  it  is  not  built  upon  thirteen ;  and  as 
Paul  was  not  of  "  the  Twelve,"  he  was  not  one  of  the  Twelve 
Foundations  of  the  Christian  Church.  This  is,  without 
doubt,  a  correct  mode  of  reasoning;  and  from  it  you  deduce 
this  conclusion,  viz. :  that  if  Paul  was  not  one  of  "  the 
Twelve" — and  as  only  the  Twelve  could  establish  the  Chris- 
tian Church — the  churches  founded  by  Paul  are  not  apostoli- 
cal in  their  origin  )  and  as  he  was  instrumental  in  founding 
nearly  all  the  Gentile  Churches,  then  these  churches  (includ- 
ing that  of  Britain,  if  Paul,  as  we  doubt  not,  planted  that) 
are  not  apostolical,  in  the  sense  in  which  the  word  is  applied, 
in  connection  with  direct  u  succession"  from  the  Twelve, 
whom  Jesus  commissioned  to  preach  the  Gospel.  This,  I 
believe,  is  a  clear  statement  of  your  arguments  and  infer- 
ences. 

Now,  in  replying  to  you  upon  this  point,  permit  me  to  be- 
gin by  asking  you — On  what  did  the  commission  of  "  the 
Twelve"  depend  for  its  validity  ?     "What  was  the  ground  of 
3  (27) 


28  PAMPHLETS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

their  authority  for  commencing  to  build  up  the  structure  of 
the  visible  Christian  Church  on  earth  ?  If  some  one — 
Sergius  Paulus,  or  Felix,  or  King  Agrippa,  or  Csesar — had 
asked  either  of  them,  and  said :  "By  what  authority  doe&t 
thou  these  things — and  icho  gave  thee  this  authority  to  declare 
to  men  forgiveness  of  sin  on  repentance,  and  demand  of  them 
faith  and  baptism  to  attain  the  life  immortal  ?  By  what 
authority  doest  thou  this  ?  Who  gave  thee  this  authority  Vy 
Their  answer  clearly  would  have  been — 

"  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  Son  of  God/' 

Each  one  of  the  twelve  would  have  answered  alike,  that 
they  were  commissioned  by  their  crucified  and  ascended 
Lord.  Matthias,  the  twelfth,  as  I  shall  show  you,  would  have 
answered  in  the  same  way,  giving  precisely  the  same  authority 
as  the  "  Eleven/' 

Hence,  we  perceive  that  the  validity  of  their  commission 
would  lie  in  the  simple  fact  that  Christ  sent  them  forth. 
Suppose  now,  my  brother,  that  Matthias  had  been  indivi- 
dually questioned  by  some  doubting  Christians,  by  what 
authority  he  baptized,  since  he  was  not  of  the  number  of  the 
Twelve  who  were  present  when  Jesus  issued  his  commission, 
and,  therefore,  his  baptism  and  his  churches  could  not  be 
apostolic.     What  would  have  been  his  reply,  think  you? 

"  Jesus,  who  on  Earth  commissioned  the  Eleven,  from 
Heaven  commissioned  me.  The  Eleven  did  not  choose  me 
and  ordain  me  an  apostle  of  themselves ;  but  they  prayed  to 
the  ever-present  Jesus,  our  Lord,  and  said  :  *  Thou,  Lord, 
who  knowest  the  hearts  of  all  men,  show  whether  of  these 
two  Thou  bast  chosen ;  that  he  may  take  part  in  this  minis- 
try, from  which  Judas  by  transgression  fell/  I,  therefore, 
am  also  chosen  by  my  Lord  as  one  of  his  apostles,  as  well  as 
the  Eleven  I"  Such  would  have  been  his  answer  to  cavilers, 
you  must  admit.  If  he  could  not  so  answer,  he  had  no  com- 
mission, except  from  men,  to  be  an  apostle,  and  therefore 
was  not  one  of  the  Apostolical  College,  and  hence  not  an 


NUMBER   THREE.  29 

apostle!  granting  which,  there  never  were  but  "Eleven" 
apostles — a  conclusion  which,  I  think,  you  will  not  assent  to. 

Either,  therefore,  the  commission  of  Matthias  was  of  equal 
value  with  that  of  the  Eleven.  Either  he  was  in  all  respects 
their  peer,  or  there  were  but  Eleven.  This  issue  cannot  be 
reached,  however,  without  denying  that  Jesus  ruled,  and 
Whs  present  with,  to  direct  and  control,  his  little  Church,  as 
well  after  his  ascension  as  before}  and  without  questioning 
his  power  and  right  after  his  ascension  to  do  those  acts  of 
government  and  authority  which  he  did  before  it — without 
placing  a  commission,  conferred  by  him  from  Heaven,  be- 
neath, in  dignity  and  force,  those  he  had  given  while  on 
Earth  !  If  you  cannot  admit  this,  you  are  then  forced  to 
admit  that  Matthias,  although  called  after  the  ascension,  has 
as  full,  perfect,  and  authoritative  commission  as  the  Eleven 
called  before  his  ascension  !  Nay,  my  brother,  it  strikes  me 
inevitably  that  Matthias  had  more  abundant  honor  than  they 
all ;  and  his  case  was  eminently  distinguished  also,  as  being 
the  first  instance  of  the  official  interposition,  and  guiding  and 
directing  pretence  of  that  ascended  Lord,  who,  on  taking  leave 
of  his  little  tearful  flock  on  Bethany,  promised  that  lie  would 
il  be  with  them  to  the  end  of  the  world."  Matthias,  there- 
fore, was  an  apostle,  though  called  by  Jesus  to  the  apostle- 
ship  after  his  ascension. 

Now,  my  brother,  a  similar  simple  process  of  reasoning 
will  apply  to  the  case  of  Paul,  only  with  this  eminent  differ- 
ence— Saul  saw  the  ascended  Jesus  face  to  face ;  for,  says 
this  humble  man  of  God,  speaking  with  the  deepest  sense 
of  self-abasement,  that  such  an  honor  should  be  vouchsafed 
to  him  :  "And  last  of  all  he  was  seen  of  me,  also,  as  of  one 
born  out  of  due  time ;  for  I  am  the  least  of  the  apostles." 
Paul,  therefore,  was  u  called"  to  be  an  apostle,  as  Matthias 
was  also  after  the  ascension  ;  but  infinitely  with  more  honor, 
inasmuch  as  the  call  of  Matthias  was  only  by  a  divine  inti- 
mation  of  Christ's  choice,  by  directing  the  lot  to  fall   upon 


SO  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

him;  while  Paul  was  called  amid  the  sublimest  visible 
manifestations  of  the  God-like  glory,  power,  and  splendor  of 
the  ascended  Jesus !  amid  the  dazzling  radiance  of  celestial 
light  that  shone  above  the  sun  in  brightness  !  The  sight  of 
the  transfigured  and  glorified  countenance  of  him  "  whom 
he  persecuted"  struck  him  blind,  and,  overwhelmed  by  the 
terror  of  the  Lord,  he  sunk  trembling  and  helpless  to  the 
earth.  He  also  heard  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God  from  the 
midst  of  the  ineffable  glory,  who  said  to  him  : 

"  I  am  Jesus  whom  thou  persecutest.  Kise,  and  stand 
upon  thy  feet;  for  I  have  appeared  unto  thee  for  this  pur- 
pose to  make  thee  a  minister,  and  a  witness  both  of  these  things 
which  thou  hast  seen,  and  of  those  things  in  the  which  I 
will  appear  unto  thee ;  delivering  thee  from  the  people,  and 
from  the  Gentiles,  unto  whom  now  1  send  thee,  to  open  their 
eyes,  and  to  turn  them  from  darkness  unto  light,  and  from 
the  power  of  Satan  unto  God." 

Here,  my  brother,  you  read  Paul's  commission.  It  is 
given  from  the  same  lips  which  gave  it  to  the  Eleven ;  and 
is  far  more  honorable  in  its  attending  circumstances  than 
even  that  given  to  Matthias.  Either,  therefore,  Matthias 
was  not  an  apostle — was  not  one  of  the  Twelve — or  Paul  is 
also  an  apostle,  of  equal  honor ;  nay,  of  greater  honor.  Of 
himself  he  says,  possibly  to  some  doubting  ones,  that  "  he  is 
not  a  ichit  behind  the  chiefest  apostles  !"  Paul  and  Mat- 
thias fall  or  stand  together ! 

But  you  will  be  likely  to  object,  judging  from  some  pas- 
sages in  your  book,  that  the  Apostolic  succession  must 
begin  with,  and  flow  from,  the  Twelve,  (granted  there  be 
such  a  succession,)  as  twelve  streams  flow  from  twelve  foun- 
tains !  But,  my  brother,  are  you  confident  that  Paul  made 
a  thirteenth  apostle?  are  you  sure  that  none  of  the  apostles 
had  deceased  during  the  persecution  that  preceded  Paul's  con- 
version ?  I  shall  be  compelled  to  force  upon  you  the  proof 
that  there  were  Twelve  apostles  living  when  Paul  was  u  called 


NUMBER    THREE.  51 

to  bean  apostle  ?"  His  commission  took  place  in  the  thirty- 
sixth  year  of  our  Lord,  between  two  and  three  years  after 
his  ascension  !  In  that  interval  of  fierce  war  against  all  who 
called  upon  the  name  of  Christ,  and  of  unrelenting  persecu- 
tion, can  you  show  me  from  Scripture  that  none  of  the  apos- 
tles, like  Stephen  the  martyr,  fell  ?  If  you  can  do  so,  I  will 
then  admit  that  Paul  was  called  to  be  the  thirteenth  apostle  ; 
but  until  you  can  prove  there  was  no  vacancy  in  the  "  Apos- 
tolic College,"  which  he  filled,  I  have  a  right  to  maintain 
that  Scripture  shows  no  reason  why  Paul  was  not  one  of  the 
Twelve. 

But  I  will  not  insist  upon  this  necessity,  viz. :  that  Paul, 
in  order  to  transmit  the  Apostolical  Succession,  must  have 
been  one  of  u  the  Twelve."  The  Lord  of  the  Church,  in 
•organizing  it,  personally  commissioned  eleven  men  only — not 
twelve  !  If,  therefore,  from  these  eleven  alone,  because  he 
commissioned  them  before  his  ascension,  the  future  Church 
ought  to  spring,  then  it  could  not  legitimately  spring  from 
twelve ;  the  number  "  eleven" — present  when  Christ  com- 
manded them  to  preach  and  baptize  all  nations — could  have 
no  inclusion  whatever  of  Matthias.  Yet  to  Matthias,  you 
and  all  Christians  of  every  name  admit  the  commission  was 
also  given,  and  "he  was  numbered  with  the  Eleven, 
making  the  Twelfth.  This  fact,  therefore,  proves  clearly 
that  Jesus  did  not  intend  to  limit  the  apostolic  commission 
to  the  original  eleven.  That  he  did  not  so  limit  it,  the  sub- 
sequent call  of  Matthias  shows.  Now,  if  after  his  ascension 
he  adds  one  to  the  number  of  those  whom  he  commissioned 
before  he  ascended,  and  this  one  more  is  in  all  points  equally 
an  apostle  with  the  first  eleven,  why  may  he  not  add  another 
and  one  more  still  ?  But  the  sacred  history  (Acts  ix.) 
shows  that  He  did  add  another — Saul  of  Tarsus  !  Paul, 
therefore,  was  equally  an  Apostle  with  the  whole  twelve,  not 
a  whit  behind  the  chwfest  Apostles." 

But  I  hear  you  object  and  say,  that  there  is  no  authority 


32  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

for  Thirteen  Apostles  !  Will  you  show  me  where  there  is  any 
command  that  limits  the  Apostolic  College  "  to  twelve  men  ? 
Prove  to  me  from  Scripture,  my  brother,  that  there  must  of 
necessity  be  just  Twelve.  You  are  skillful  in  figures.  But 
if  you  can  prove  this,  then  you  perceive  that  you  will  prove 
too  much ;  for  you  will  prove  that  when  there  were  only 
Eleven  they  were  not  Apostles  at  all,  if,  to  be  an  Apostle,  it 
is  necessary  to  be  one  of  "  Twelve."  Either  way,  my  brother, 
you  see  that  you  are  obliged  to  yield  the  point,  and  recognize 
Paul's  claim  to  be  an  Apostle ;  or  you  must  deny  that  of 
Matthias  also.  If,  therefore,  the  ministerial  acts  of  Matthias 
were  lawfully  apostolical,  so  also  were  those  of  Paul.  If  Mat- 
thias could  establish  a  church  and  perpetuate  "  the  succession," 
(admitting,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  there  is  such  a  thing,) 
Paul  could  also  do  equally  valid  ministerial  and  apostolical 
acts.  If,  therefore,  the  Episcopal  Churches  of  the  world 
may  trace  their  succession,  legitimately,  to  Matthias,  (always 
providing  that  there  is  such  a  dogma  as  the  "  succession," 
my  brother,)  they  can,  by  equal  steps,  and  with  equal 
authority  and  lawfulness,  trace  it  to  Paul.  Now,  as  we  do 
believe  in  the  succession,  (we  Episcopalians,)  we  think  we 
may  as  legitimately  derive  it  from  St.  Paul  as  from  St.  Mat- 
thias. Your  argument  upon  Paul's  case,  therefore,  seems  to 
me  to  be  unfortunately  chosen.  As  for  Barnabas  and  Tim- 
othy, and  others  whom  you  number  with  the  apostles,  they 
were  not  chosen  and  u  called  of  Jesus,"  personally,  as  Paul 
and  Matthias  were ;  though  evidently  "  called  of  God,"  by 
His  Spirit.  I  hope  you  will  note  this  distinction,  for  it  is 
not  one  witJwut  a  difference.  Their  call  was  from  Paul,  as 
the  "representative  of  Christ,"  with  authority  to  do  such 
acts  ;  while  his  own  was  from  the  voice  of  the  lips  of  Jesus 
himself !  Paul,  therefore,  was  an  apostle  in  a  different  sense 
from  Timothy,  and  Titus,  and  Barnabas,  also  called  apostles. 
Calling  by  men  does  not  always  give  the  reality  ;  as  instance 
your  chief  presbyters,  whom  you  "  call"  Bishops,  though 


NUMBER    THREE.  33 

they  are  but  chosen  superintendents.  There  was,  doubtlesp, 
as  wide  a  difference  between  the  apostles  Timothy,  Bgrnabas, 
Titus,  and  St.  Paul  the  apostle,  as  between  your  Bishops  (I 
say  it  in  love  and  reverence,  my  brother,  for  I  know  they  are 
pious  and  evangelical  men,  and  do  honor  to  Christianity,) 
and  the  Episcopal  Bishops. 

I  have  now  done  with  St.  Paul  and  Matthias,  and  sincerely 
beg  pardon  of  the  memories  of  these  excellent  and  holy 
men,  for  using  their  venerated  names  so  freely  and  frequently 
in  this  connection.  Allow  me,  however,  to  add  that  you  are 
in  error,  my  brother,  on  page  59  of  your  book,  in  supposing 
Paul  to  have  been  ordained  by  the  quadrangular  ordina- 
tion of  "  Barnabas,  Simon,  Lucius  and  Manean,"  and  if  you 
desire  to  have  any  other  ordainer  traced  back  to,  "  I  must, 
of  necessity,  you  perceive,  name  Jesus,  as  I  have  previously 
argued.  Paul  received  his  ordination  with  his  commission, 
"  in  the  way  to  Damascus,"  at  the  same  time  with  the 
"  authority"  for  his  apostleship.  The  "  setting  apart," 
which  you  call  an  ordination,  was  but  a  specific  selection  of 
Paul,  in  Acts,  xiii.  2 ;  was,  as  any  plain  man,  reading  the 
passage,  may  perceive,  but  a  special  appointing  and  solemn 
dedication  of  the  two  men  to  a  particular  work.  That  it  was 
not  Barnabas's  ordination  is  very  clearly  shown  from  the 
verse  preceding,  wherein  he  is  already  denominated  both  "  a 
prophet  and  teacher."  Paul,  in  the  same  verse,  also 
previously  termed  "  a  prophet  and  teacher."  Hence  this  act 
was  not  his  ordination.  Indisputably,  therefore,  he  was 
already  "  in  orders,"  previous  to  his  "  separation."  And 
where  and  when  he  received  his  orders,  which  were  apostolic, 
like  those  of  the  whole  twelve,  I  have  already  shown  you. 

Fraternally, 

Justus. 


PAMPHLETS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


K UMBER  FOUR. 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.  R.  ABBEY,  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

There  are  other  points  in  your  book,  which  I  am  re- 
viewing, that  I  should  cheerfully  examine  in  order  to  try  and 
set  you  right  where  you  have  fallen  into  errors  of  fact  and 
of  inference ;  doubtless  from  misreading,  or  not  "  drinking 
deep"  enough  into  the  Ecclesiastical  spring.  Bat  I  have 
already  written  farther  than  I  contemplated,  and  if  I  extend 
my  articles,  I  fear  that  you  may  take  them  for  a  reply  to 
your  book ;  when  I  am  conscious  that  they  are  but  the  smooth 
stones  of  David's  scrip,  compared  with  Groliah's  mighty  spear 
and  sword  wielded  by  yourself.  I  am  merely  glancing  at 
your  chief  arguments  to  show  you  how  easy  it  will  be  for  the 
more  learned  in  my  Church  to  destroy  your  book,  dispersing 
its  arguments  as  the  cool  winds  of  the  autumn  scatter  the 
dried  leaves  of  the  forest  before  it.  My  little  review  of  your 
attack  is  hut  a  review — no  more..  As  I  have  said,  I  am  one  of 
the  youngest  in  the  ministry,  and  have  too  much  diffidence, 
or  ought  to  have,  to  presume  to  put  myself  fairly  forward  to 
cope  with  as  experienced  a  controversialist  as  I  am  told  you 
are.  I  leave  the  proper  handling  of  your  book  to  the  Bishop 
to  whom  it  is  addressed,  if,  perchance,  he  deem,  it  worthy  of 
his  special  regard. 

Nevertheless,  I  cannot  lay  down  my  pen  without  touching 

(35) 


86  PAMPHLETS    FOR    THE   PEOPLE. 

upon  some  other  subjects  which  your  book  forces  upon  my 
attention. 

I  perceive,  my  brother,  that  you  have  a  favorite  mode  of 
putting  a  strong  case  hypothetically,  and  then  (assuming  the 
fact  to  have  occurred  actually)  argue,  conclude,  denounce, 
and  stamp  the  whole  with  Q.  E.  D.,  as  if  you  had  really  been 
making  deductions  from  facts  or  positive  dogmas,  and  then 
with  a  revolver,  charged  with  your  "  ifs,"  press  us  Episco- 
palians home  to  the  death.  To  such  mode  of  arguing  I  can 
make  no  adequate  reply,  and  pass  briefly  by,  untouched,  your 
"  suppositive"  cases  of  what  potentially  would,  could,  should 
and  might  happen  if  such  and  such  and  such  things  did  occur 
(see  Letter  XII.)  in  the  "  dark  ages." 

You  ask,  however,  very  plausibly,  what  can  prevent  them 
from  occurring  when  they  might  under  given  circumstances 
occur,  the  " succession' '  being  in  human  hands?  Now  I  do 
not  object  to  the  question,  but  I  do  strongly  object  to  your 
inference,  "that  because  they  might  occur  they  have  oc- 
curred !  Because  wicked  men  might  neglect  the  proper  or- 
dination rites,  they  did  neglect  them ;  because  the  succession 
might  be  vitiated,  ergo,  it  was  vitiated/' 

This  is  not  logical  argumentation,  my  brother,  you  must 
be  aware  as  well  as  I.  By  such  reasoning  I  might  prove  you 
to  be  a  mitred  Bishop — videlicet,  you  might,  under  given  cir- 
cumstances, that  is,  if  you  learnedly  examined  the  subject  of 
the  Episcopacy  without  prejudice  and  prejudication  of  the 
facts,  get  to  be  a  prelate,  but  this  might  does  not  positively 
place  upon  your  head  the  mitre ;  nor  would  I  be  justified  by 
you  in  asserting,  on  this  hypothesis,  that  you  were  a  Bishop. 

But  you  ask  what  could  have  prevented  the  breaking  of  the 
chain,  or  at  least  its  vitiation,  so  far  as  to  destroy  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  sacraments  and  ministry  ;  the  validity  of  which, 
according  to  Episcopalians/'  hangs  on  the  unbroken  continuity 
of  this  chain  ? 

To  this  I  answer  simply  and  briefly  in  the  words  of  Him 


NUMBER    FOUR.  37 

who  established  the  ministry  of  the  Church,  and  gave  to  its 
keeping  the  sacraments  and  all  the  promises  : 

"  I  will  be  with  you  to  the  end  of  the  world  !  The  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  (it)  my  Church." 

It  is  this  divine  and  sure  promise,  my  brother,  of  Jesus 
himself,  the  great  head  of  the  Church,  that  secured  and  still 
secures  the  integrity  of  the  "  succession"  in  the  Apostolic 
ministry  !  It  is  true  that  the  chain  might  have  been  broken, 
links  might  have  been  lost,  the  continuity  might  have  been 
vitiated,  but  I  deny  that  it  was,  and  challenge  you  to  the  proof. 

If  you  can  prove  that  the  chain  of  succession  is  broken, 
then  you  establish,  and  are  compelled  to  prove  more  than  you 
anticipate,  viz  :  to  prove,  also,  that  Jesus,  our  blessed  Mas- 
ter, promised  to  his  Church  what  he  failed  to  perform.  This 
is  the  inevitable  issue  !  Proof  that  the  line  of  the  Apostolic 
ministry,  divinely  instituted  by  Christ,  cannot  be  distinctly 
traced  from  the  Apostles'  day  to  this,  proves  that  there  is  no 
continuous  ministry  j  and  to  prove  that  no  Church  of  to-day 
can  reach  the  first  Church  by  a  continuous  chain  of  ordina- 
tion, is  to  prove  that  no  Church  of  to-day  is  the  Church  in- 
stituted by  Christ  himself!  Now,  if  no  Church  of  to-day  be 
a  continuation  of  the  Church  which  the  Apostles  founded ',  the 
Church  which  they  founded  has  ceased  to  exist.  If  that  Church 
has  ceased  to  exist,  then  Christ  cannot  be  with  it  to  the  end 
of  the  world,  as  he  promised;  and  if  he  is  not  and  cannot  be 
with  the  Apostolic  Church  (supposing  it  to  have  ceased  to 
be),  and  as  that  was  the  Church  which  he  promised  to  be 
with,  it  follows,  as  an  irresistable  issue,  that  CJirist  u  not 
with  either  of  the  Christian  Churches  on  earth  to-day ;  be- 
cause, if  the  Churches  of  to-day  cannot  reach  up  to  the  Apos- 
tolic, by  continuity  of  ordination,  but  begin  someichcrc  this 
side  of  it,  then  they  were  not  in  existence  in  Christ's  day, 
and,  consequently,  were  not  the  Church  with  which  Christ 
pledged  himself,  in  the  person  of  its  founders,  to  be  ever 
present. 


38  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

If,  therefore,  my  brother,  it  were  possible  to  destroy 
the  "  Apostolic  Succession/'  it  would  be  the  death-knell  to 
all  the  Christian  Churches  of  to-day.  Not  being  Churches 
by  continuity  of  ministry  from  the  original  foundation,  they 
would  not  be  the  Church  of  Christ  at  all ;  only  something 
like  it,  and  called  by  his  name,  instituted  after  the  cessation 
of  the  existence  of  the  original  Apostolic  Church  !  Christ, 
therefore,  would  not  be  with  any  of  us ;  and  if  there  be  no 
traceable  connection  between  us  and  the  Apostolic  Church, 
we  have  no  claim  to  expect  his  presence ;  for  his  promise  was 
not  made  to  possible  Churches  in  the  womb  of  the  future, 
but  to  one  in  esse,  "  founded  upon  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone. " 

It  is  true,  the  succession  passes  through  many  bad  men, 
for  fallen  men  are  its  instruments  of  conveyance,  and  in  this 
imperfect  world  the  noblest  and  purest  things,  nay  the  holiest 
things,  of  necessity,  pass  through  vile  and  unworthy  hands. 
In  its  progress  from  the  wheat-field  to  the  mill,  and  into 
flour,  to  the  kneading-trough,  and  to  the  oven,  and  finally 
to  be  set  apart  for  a  memorial  of  the  blessed  body  of  our 
crucified  Lord,  the  sacred  bread  of  the  holy  table  passes 
through  many  vile  and  ignoble  hands  ere  it  touches  our  sin- 
ful lips  !  Will  you  reject  that  proffered  bread  for  this 
reason  ?  The  sacraments  both  have  come  down  to  us  through 
the  same  wicked  men,  whose  office  you  imagine  vitiates  the 
"  success  n."  It  would  equally  destroy  the  validity  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  and  Baptism  ! 

In  spite  of  these  wicked  priests  and  prelates  who  have 
served  at  the  Church's  altars,  Christ  has  kept  his  promise  to 
his  church,  that  "  the  gates  of  hell  should  not  prevail  against 
it."  If  the  wickedness  of  some  of  the  ministers,  through 
whom  the  succession  has  come  down  to  our  day,  has  de- 
stroyed the  validity  of  our  modern  ministry,  then  wickedness 
has  succeeded  against  the  Church,  and  "  the  gates  of  hell," 
in  truth,  "have  prevailed  against  it."     Either,  therefore, 


NUMBER    FOUR.  39 

the  integrity  of  the  original  Church,  to  which  Jesus  made 
this  promise,  exists  to-day  on  the  earth,  with  its  apostoli- 
cally-begun  ministry,  with  its  sacraments,  and  full  authority, 
as  a  Church,  or  "  the  gates  of  hell"  have  prevailed  to  de- 
stroy it.  If  they  have  prevailed,  then  Christ  has  not 
guarded  his  Church  as  he  promised  to  do.  But  let  Jesus  be 
true,  and  every  man  a  liar.  If  he  be  true,  and  has  ever 
been  with  his  Church  to  defend  it,  then  the  continuation  of 
the  original  ministry  has  evidently  come  down  to  our  day, 
and  the  Church  to  which  he  gave  the  promise  still  exists  to 
claim  and  receive  it.  The  virtue  of  the  apostolical  succes- 
sion has  not,  therefore,  been  vitiated  or  impaired  by  the 
wickedness  of  the  hands  through  which  it  has  passed.  Christ 
has  guarded  its  integrity,  and  will  continue  to  unfold  from 
his  throne  these  lengthening  steps  of  a  successive  ministry, 
until  upon  its  last  round  stands  the  last  Priest  who  shall 
serve  at  the  last  Christian  altar  at  the  close  of  time. 

Destroy  the  succession,  and  you  perceive  that  you  destroy 
the  validity  and  divine  authority  of  all  human  orders;  and 
you  and  I  are  both  usurpers  (ministers  of  the  gospel,  but  not 
ministers  of  Christ)  of  £ nthority,  which  those  who  gave  it  us 
had  no  lawful  authority  to  convey,  and  which  we  are  dis- 
honest to  retain  another  hour. 

The  seeming  discrepancies  (to  touch  another  subject  of 
your  book)  in  the  several  printed  catalogues  of  the  apostolic 
line,  are  easily  removed  on  a  critical  examination  ;  and  I 
shall  take  pleasure  in  mailing  to  your  address  a  copy  of  a 
work  which  will  approve  itself  to  your  better  judgment;  for 
I  know  you  are  not  unready  to  be  convinced  on  a  "fair  show- 
ing" of  evidence  ;  as  you  confess  you  seek  only,  and  are  open 
to,  the  truth.  It  is  because  I  respect  your  candor  and  frank- 
ness that  I  write  what  I  do ;  not  a  line  of  which  is  penned 
otherwise  than  with  that  spirit  of  "  hoping  all  things" 
which  Christ,  our  beloved  Master,  commands  us  to  entertain 
one  toward  another,  u  owing  no  man  anything  but  love." 
4 


40  PAMPHLET   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

In  connection  with  the  subject  of  "  wickedness  in  the  min- 
istry of  the  succession/'  which  you  argue  must  for  ever  bar 
it,  suffer  me  to  direct  your  attention  to  the  Jewish  Priest- 
hood, which,  though  divinely  instituted,  and  made  here- 
ditary, was,  at  certain  periods  of  the  Jewish  history,  dis- 
tinguished for  the  corruption  of  its  Priests.  This  fact  is  well 
known.  Nevertheless,  they  were  made  use  of  by  God  (com- 
pared with  whom  all  agents  are  unholy)  as  the  instruments, 
not  only  of  conveying  "  the  Aaronic  succession/'  but  of 
standing  as  sacrificers  between  the  people  and  Himself. 
They  were  still  the  keepers  of  the  Law,  and  the  guardians 
of  the  Church,  and  teachers  of  the  people ;  and  to  one  of 
these  (whose  predecessors  and  fathers  had  so  sinned)  the 
holy  babe,  Christ,  was  presented  for  circumcision.  Accord- 
ing to  your  reasoning,  my  brother,  there  could  have  followed 
no  circumcision  of  the  heart — no  spiritual  virtue !  that  is, 
Christ's  circumcision  would  not  have  been  valid.  Wicked  as 
these  men  were  in  their  "  succession/'  we  see  they  were 
allowed  to  perform  the  most  sacred  rites  of  their  Church  to 
the  incarnate  body  of  the  Son  of  God  !  Jesus  subsequently 
fully  recognized  the  holy  office  of  wicked  cotemporary 
priests,  actually  asserting  that,  bad  as  they  were,  "  the 
Scribes  sat  in  Moses'  seat."  "  All,  therefore,  whatever  they 
bid  you  observe,"  said  he,  u  that  observe  and  do ;  but  do  ye 
not  after  their  works." 

Here  is  a  marked  distinction  made  between  the  man  and 
his  office.  The  wicked  works  of  the  man  invalidated  not  the 
official  acts  of  the  priestly  office.  Thus  the  evil  lives  of  the 
clergy  of  the  "  dark  ages/'  or  of  the  light  ages,  stop  not  the 
continuous  flow  of  the  divine  authority  of  the  ministry  from 
God.  Therefore,  the  evil  of  some  ministers  in  "  the  succes- 
sion" of  the  Christian  priest-hood,  who  "  sit  in  the  Apostles' 
seat,"  invalidate  not  the  integrity  of  the  succession,  as  you 
appear  to  conceive.  Lamentable,  indeed,  it  is  that  such  men, 
sitting  in  "  the  gates  of  hell"  while  they  serve  at  the  altars 


NUMBER    FOUR.  41 

of  the  Church,  should  be  link*  in  the  chain ;  but  as  Christ 
promised  "  the  gates  of  hell"  should  not  prevail,  they  have 
not  prevailed.  At  this  day,  eighteen  hundred  years  after 
Christ,  a  minister,  (bishop  or  priest,)  duly  authorized  as  such, 
can  convey  (instrumentally)  the  same  divine  gifts  to  the  bap- 
tized and  the  confirmed,  which  Paul,  John,  Matthias,  and 
Peter  conveyed  to  those  they  baptized  and  confirmed.  The 
"gift  of  Christ,"  like  a  well  of  living  water,  "flowing  fast 
by  the  oracles  of  God,"  wells  ever  up  within  the  Church  con- 
veying, through  his  Apostolic  ministry,  life  and  immortality 
to  the  farthest  ages  yet  unborn. 

One  word  more,  my  brother,  touching  the  conveyance  of 
God's  gifts.  If  a  bad  man's  life  ignores  and  can  destroy  the 
validity  of  his  official  acts,  so  that  they  convey  no  grace  to 
others  in  ordinations,  it  must  be  equally  the  case  in  the  sacra- 
ments. But  if  we  receive  the  sacraments  by  faith,  (our  own 
faith,  and  not  that  of  the  conveyer  of  them,)  then  the  pre- 
sence or  absence  of  faith  in  his  heart  (where  only  God  can 
look  in  to  see)  will  not  ignore  the  sacrament  you  or  I  re- 
ceive— its  validity  and  spiritual  efficacy  dependiug  on  God's 
promise  and  our  faith,  not  on  the  state  of  mind  of  the  re- 
ceiver. Now,  no  man  knows  "  what  is  in  man"  but  God. 
All  ice  can  judge  by,  is  the  "  official"  position.  Has  he  due 
authority  to  be  the  conveyer  to  me,  according  to  Christ's 
ordinance,  of  this  water  of  baptism,  of  this  bread  and  wine  ?" 
is  what  ice  must  ask.  "If  so,  and  I  have  on  my  part"  the 
required  "  faith,"  that  "  I  then  receive  it  effectually,  to  its 
proper  end,"  is  what  we  arc  forced  to  conclude.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  the  validity  of  sacraments  depended  not  on  our  faith 
and  God's  promised  grace,  but  upon  the  moral  character  of 
the  conveyer,  then  we  could  never  know  whether  we  had  ever 
duly  received  these  holy  sacraments !  The  conveyer  of  the 
bread  and  wine  to  you  may  have  committed  adultery,  or  a 
secret  murder,  the  night  before  !  In  this  case,  according  to 
your  reasoning,  the  conveyance  itself  would  be  deprived  of 


42  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

its  virtues,  and  it  would  be  no  sacrament  to  you.  You  there- 
fore perceive  at  once  that,  were  your  arguments  sound,  there 
would  be  a  distressing  uncertainty  and  doubt  always  prevailing 
in  the  minds  of  recipients  upon  the  subject  so  vital  to  us  all. 
The  comfort  which  the  Lord's  supper  is  ordained  to  convey 
to  the  soul,  would  give  no  certain  comfort,  for  want  of  as- 
surance that  the  heart  of  the  conveyer  was  at  the  moment  of 
conveying,  right  with  God — which  no  man  can  know,  but 
God  only.  What  Christ  instituted  as  the  chiefest  privilege 
of  his  children  would  be  rendered  nugatory  through  doubts  of 
the  state  of  mind  and  heart,  and  secret  moral  condition  of  the 
conveyer.  So  no  one  would  be  certain  he  had  ever  been  duly 
baptized ;  no  one  would  be  sure  that  he  had  ever  duly  re- 
ceived God's  holy  mysteries;  for  any  sin  unknown  to  the 
world,  and  unrepented  of  in  the  heart  of  the  minister,  would 
ignore  the  sacraments. 

But,  thanks  be  to  God,  who  hath  given  us  a  more  sure 
ground  of  confidence,  that  we  "  duly  receive  his  holy  mys- 
teries," than  the  moral  state  of  the  conveyer,  which  we  never 
certainly  can  know,  as  God  alone  knoweth  man's  heart.  This 
view,  however,  of  sacramental  efficacy,  ought  not  by  any 
means  to  prevent  the  open  and  prompt  ejectment  from  the 
ministry  of  the  Church  of  all  evil-livers — she  should,  verily, 
"  spue  them  out  of  her  mouth;"  but  so  long  as  they  continue 
to  act  officially,  their  acts  are  clearly  valid,  and  convey  the 
graces  in  the  Gospel  sacraments  to  all  who  receive  them  from 
their  hands.  The  purest  waters  may  be  conveyed  from  the 
fountain  through  the  basest  conduits  of  clay  or  wood,  without 
defilement,  as  well  as  of  silver  and  gold.  A  slave  may  bring  to 
you  a  title  of  nobility  from  an  emperor,  yet  the  honor  and 
value  thereof  not  be  lessened  in  your  eyes.  We  must  care- 
fully distinguish  between  what  is  conveyed  and  him  who  con- 
veys !  A  diamond  loses  none  of  its  purity  or  value  by  being 
preserved  in  a  soiled  casket.  In  a  word,  the  conveyer  is  not 
the  conveyance !     The  priest  is  not  the  sacrament;  the  ef- 


NUMBER    FOLK.  43 

ficacy  of  the  latter  depending,  as  I  have  before  argued,  upon 
the  promises  of  God,  upon  the  divine  veracity  and  divine 
constitution  of  the  Church,  and  not  upon  the  cotemporal 
moral  status  of  the  officiating  minister.  This  is  an  important 
truth,  my  brother,  and  full  of  all  consolation  and  hope ;  and 
I  trust  that,  upon  reflection,  instead  of  again  attacking  a 
Christian  doctrine  so  full  of  comfort,  you  will  be  inclined  to 
embrace  it  as  being  the  only  ground  upon  which  the  integrity 
and  efficacy  of  the  sacraments  can  stand  unmoved  by  "  the 
gates  of  hell,"  or  the  wickedness  of  men. 

Fraternally, 

Justus. 


4* 


PAMPHLETS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


NUMBER    FIVE. 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.  R.  ABBEY,  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

There  is  another  subject  which  attracts  my  attention 
in  your  book,  which  I  desire  to  ask  your  leave  to  occupy  a 
few  moments  merely  to  glance  at. 

It  is  the  ironical  charge  which  you  make  against  the  Ameri- 
can and  English  Episcopal  Church  of  being  "  anxious  to 
avoid  Rome."  In  one  sense,  in  that  of  erroneous  and 
strange  doctrines  and  of  a  superstitious  ritual,  I  admit  that  we 
are  "  anxious  to  avoid  Rome,"  and  are  pleased  that  you  are 
willing  to  admit  "  the  existence  of  the  anxiety  *"  for  in 
another  part  of  your  book  you  roundly  charge  us  with  wish- 
ing to  go  to  Rome,  or  with  a  strong  tendency  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Papal  city. 

Now,  my  brother,  if  you  have  ever  read,  as  it  becomes  you 
as  a  respectable  controversialist  to  do,  the  Common  Prayer 
Book  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  you  would  discover  therein 
that  this  Church  is  in  the  most  positive  antagonism  to  Rome. 
^The  doctrine  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  is  to  be 
learned  from  the  "  Creed"  and  Thirty-nine  Articles  ;  and  the 
sense  of  the  Churcii  drawn  from  her  Public  "  Offices"  and 
from  her  Rubrics,  and  not  from  the  sentiments  of  individuals. 
The  Prayer  Book  is  the  way  the  Church  interprets  to  her 
own  children  the  Bible ;  exemplifying  thereby  her  distinc- 
tive doctrines ;  in  other  words,  it  is  the  Written  Law  of 
the  Church.     It  is  the  Bible  arranged  for  our  use. 

(45) 


46  PAMPHLETS   FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

The  Church  knows  no  Laws  as  authoritative  for  her  in- 
ternal police  and  government  but  her  Constitution  and 
Canons. 

The  Church  knows  no  Formularies  of  Faith  but  her 
Creed  and  Articles. 

The  Church  knows  no  rites,  ceremonies,  or  prayers  to  be 
practiced  by  her,  or  publicly  allowed,  except  those  contained 
in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

If,  therefore,  you  had  carefully  examined  our  Prayer  Book, 

as  you  ought  to  have  done,  before  condemning  the  Church 

f  which  it  is  the  literal  expression,  you  would  have  found 

that  there  is  no  Rome  there  I     Let  me  quote  from  Article 

XIX.  for  your  private  eye  : 

"  As  the  Church  of  Hierusalem,  Alexandria,  and  Antioch 
have  erred,  so  also  the  Church  of  Rome  hath  erred ;  not  only 
in  their  living  and  manner  of  ceremonies,  but  also  in  matters 
of  faith." 

Article  XXII.  reads  thus  : 

"  The  Romish  doctrine  concerning  Purgatory,  pardons, 
worshipping  and  adoration,  as  well  of  images  as  of  relics,  and 
also  invocation  of  saints,  is  a  fond  thing  vainly  invented,  and 
grounded  upon  no  warranty  of  Scripture,  but  rather  repug- 
nant to  the  word  of  God." 

So  Articles  XXV,  XXVIII,  XXX,  XXXI,  XXXII,  are 
all  aimed  at  the  errors  and  superstitions  of  the  Church  of 
Rome.* 

Yet,  my  brother,  in  the  face  of  these  declarations  against 
Rome,  you  charge  us  with  being  no  better  than  Papists. 
Your  words  are,  and  may  God  pardon  them  as  I  do,  and  as  all 
good  churchmen,  I  hope,  will  do,  "Your  face  is  toward 
Rome  !     You  are  the  hope  of  Popery  in  this  country  I" 

Why,  my  brother,  Rome  has  not  a  greater  foe  to  fear  than 
the  English  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and  its  branches  ! 

*  For  these  Articles,  look  into  any  Prayer  Book,  next  after  "  The  Psal- 
ter," or  Psalms  of  David. 


NUMBER   FIVE.  47 

Ask  them,  and  their  priests  will  tell  you  so.  u  Destroy  the 
Anglican  Church/'  they  will  say,  "and  the  world's  neck  lies 
presently  beneath  the  heel  of  the  Iloman  Pontiff." 

Your  reasons  for  so  boldly  asserting  the  tendency  of  the 
Church  to  Rome  arc  given  by  you:  1st.  "  The  succession," 
you  say,  must  take  us  there.  2d.  Our  Clergy  affect  Romish 
customs,  and  preach  Romish  doctrines.  3d.  One  of  our 
BishopL  has  gone  to  Rome.  4th.  In  England  they  are  going  by 
hundreds — and  you  offer,  as  a  fifth  reason,  their  wicked  lives, 
which,  if  true,  would  rather  argue  that  they  were  going  to 
the  devil ;  and  I  believe  these  terms  are,  with  you,  logically 
synonymous. 

Now,  my  brother,  hear  me  upon  these  points. 

Touching  the  1st,  the  succession  I  have  already  sufficiently 
argued,  and  cannot  see  that  you  can  make  good  your  asser- 
tions. Your  strong  argument  is,  that  we  receive  the  succes- 
sion through  Rome,  and  must  be  partaker  of  her  sins ; 
further,  that  the  doctrine  of  succession  leads  to  that  of  the 
Infallibility  of  the  Church;  which  doctrine,  you  contend, 
virtually  lords  it  over  the  Scriptures,  which  it  usurps  the 
exclusive  authority  of  interpreting  for  individuals.  This 
subject  covers  a  wide  field,  and  can  barely  be  handled  in  the 
brief  space  and  time  I  desire  to  occupy  with  your  book;  but 
I  will  say  a  few  words  upon  it. 

That  "  succession"  renders  the  Church  infallible,  the 
Prayer  Book  teaches  not,  and  no  Churchman  pretends  to 
believe  or  assert  as  much.  If  you  can  detect  any  one  of  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  or  the  Creed,  asserting  the  Church's 
infallibility,  in  or  out  of  her  councils,  I  will  admit  the  fact. 
If  they  do  not,  neither  her  constitution  nor  canons  lay  down 
the  doctrine  of  Infallibility — as  the  Church  of  Rome  interprets 
the  term,  it  is  not  a  doctrine  of  the  Church;  and,  as  a  fair 
arguer,  you  should  not  charge  her  with  holding  it.  If  Epis- 
copalian ministers  have,  individually,  given  you  to  under- 
stand that  it  is,  they  have  led  you  into  error,  and  are  in  error 


48  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

themselves;  but  the  Church,  as  I  have  before  said,  is  not 
responsible  for  the  "  sentiments  of  individuals/'  "  Where, 
then,"  you  will  demand,  "  shall  I  find  what  your  Church 
doctrines  are  ?"  I  point  you  to  her  Articles  and  Creed — 
those  are  the  hedges  that  shut  in  the  walks  of  all  true 
Churchmen,  lay  or  clerical.  If  you  find  in  our  Prayer 
Book,  that  we  teach  Infallibility  of  the  Councils  or  of  Bi- 
shops; that  we  teach  there  are  Seven  Sacraments*  viz.,  be- 
sides Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper, — Confirmation,  Penance, 
Orders,  Matrimony,  and  Extreme  Unction ;  that  we  can  law- 
fully establish  doctrines  from  the  Apochrypha;  that  we 
ought  to  invoke  departed  Saints ;  that  we  ought  to  worship 
the  Virgin  Mary ;  pay  divine  honors  to  Martyrs ;  that  we 
can  do  works  of  supererogation  to  eke  out  what  lacks  in 
Christ's  atonement;  that  we  can  atone  for  sins  by  voluntary 
personal  suffering;  that  the  substance  of  the  bread  and  wine 
of  the  holy  Communion  is  changed  by  the  prayer  and  bene- 
diction of  the  priest  officiating  into  the  veritable  and  real 
fibres  and  flesh,  bones  and  blood  of  the  slain  Jesus,  son  of 
Mary ;  that  the  wine  of  the  sacraments  ought  to  be  denied 
to  all  but  the  clergy,  giving  the  bread  only  to  the  lay-people ; 
that  the  wafer  of  communion-bread,  being  the  very  body  of 
Jesus,  ought  to  be  elevated  and  worshiped  by  all  the  con- 
gregation kneeling;  that  bishops,  priests  and  deacons  ought 
not  to  marry;  that  the  traditions  of  the  Church  are  of  equal 
authority  with  the  Bible;  that  the  Bishop  or  Pope  of  Rome 
is  the  supreme  Lord  Bishop  over  all  other  earthly  bishops, 
ministers,  and  Christian  people;  that  his  decision,  in  ques- 
tions of  doctrine  or  faith,  is  "  Yea  and  Amen,"  the  voice  of 
God ;  that  the  Mother  of  Jesus  (as  well  as  her  divine  Son) 
was  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost;  that  there  is  an  interme- 
diate Purgatory  between  death  and  heaven,  where  the  souls 

*  A  sacrament  is  defined  an  outward  visible  sign  of  an  inward  spiritual 
grace  given  therein,  and  is,  gonerally,  essential  to  salvation. 


NUMBER    FIVK.  49 

of  evil-living  Christians  expiate  their  sins  done  after  baptism, 
and  out  of  which  the  prayers  of  the  Church  can  hasten  their 
departure,  and  that  this  deliverance  of  their  souls  ought  to 
be  prayed  for;  that  Pio  Nino  has  the  keys  of  heaven  and 
hell,  and  can  open  and  no  man  shut,  and  shut  and  no  man 
open;  when,  sir,  my  brother,  you  can  find,  with  or  without 
your  spectacles,  these  doctrines,  taught  or  suggested,  in  the 
Articles,  Creed,  Canons,  or  Constitution  of  our  Church,  as  laid 
down  in  the  Prayer  Book,  then  will  I  consent  that  you 
should  use  such  language  against  us  as  blot  the  pages  of 
your  book.  I  appeal  to  every  candid  and  honest  man  or  wo- 
man, who  may  take  the  trouble  to  read  what  I  am  writing,  if 
you  can  honestly,  and  in  Christian  truth,  charge  us  with  Ro- 
manism, when  we  not  only  do  not  teach,  but  repudiate  with 
horror  all  these  particular  doctrines  of  Rome,  a  catalogue  of 
which  I  have  enumerated  above.  You  might  as  well  as- 
severate that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Con- 
stitution of  these  United  States  taught  the  doctrine  of  sub- 
mision  to  kings,  as  our  Constitution,  Articles,  and  Canons 
teach  the  doctrine  of  submision  to  Rome,  yea,  in  the  least  of 
her  errors !  If,  then,  our  Church  teaches  not  Romanism  at 
all,  how  can  you  aflirm,  how  dare  you,  as  a  Christian  man, 
who  must  one  day  give  an  account  to  God  for  every  idle 
word  and  all  false  witness  borne,  how  dare  you,  my  brother, 
affirm  that  "  Romanism  looks  to  us  as  the  hope  of  Popery  in 
this  country  V  God  forgive  you  as  heartily  as  I  do,  and  give 
you  a  better  mind. 

But  you  will,  in  defence,  reiterate  that  there  are  Episco- 
palian ministers  who  preach  Romish  doctrines ;  and  you  also 
point  to  the  Oxford  Tracts,  and  murmur  something  about 
Puseyism,  and  perhaps  mention  Bishop  Ives. 

As  to  our  ministers  preaching  such  doctrines,  I  dare  say 
there  are  some  weak-minded  and  romantic  young  preachers 
who  affect  ultra  notions  in  Theology;  but  if  such  there  be, 
(though  I  know  not  one  in  the  whole  American  Church  since 


50  PAMPHLETS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

those  "who  went  out  from  us"  have  gone,)  who  preach  any 
one  of  the  erroneous  doctrines  of  Rome,  above  named,  he  is 
not  an  honest  Churchman,  and  should  go  to  Rome,  where  he 
properly  belongs.  But,  as  I  have  shown  you,  the  doctrines 
and  sense  of  the  Church  are  not  to  be  learned  from  the  senti- 
ments or  eccentricities  of  individuals,  but  from  her  Public 
Offices  laid  down  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

To  form  an  opinion,  and  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  Church, 
upon  the  irregular  opinions  advanced  by  certain  individuals, 
(either  "in  desk  or  in  book,")  would  be  about  as  judicious 
as  if  you  were  to  say  that  the  Republic  of  the  United  States 
was  a  Monarchy,  because  there  are  under  its  government 
men  who  freely  express  their  opinions  in  favor  of  the  govern- 
ment and  laws  of  Great  Britain. 

Fraternally, 

Justus. 


PAMPHLETS  POP  THE  PEOPLE. 


NUMBER   SIX. 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.  R.  ABBEY,  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

There  is  another  issue  which  you  urge  against  the 
"  Succession"  which,  however,  you  do  not  reach  by  argu- 
ment, but  by  inference,  viz.  :  that  the  doctrine  of  the  succes- 
sion leads  to  the  sole  interpretation  of  Scripture  by  "  the 
Church."  I  have  already  glanced  at  this  objection,  but 
will  discuss  it  here  more  fully.  Your  inferential  issue  is 
frankly  admitted.  The  doctrine  of  "  the  Succession  Apos- 
tolic" does  involve  that  of  the  interpretation  and  guardian- 
ship of  the  Scriptures!  The  Church  "is  the  ground  and 
pillar  of  the  truth."  The  truth  evidently  is  contained  in 
the  Bible.  Hence  the  Church  is  the  "  pillar  and  ground" 
of  the  Bible.  A  pillar  is  that  which  upholds  and  supports. 
John  and  Cephas  are  termed  "  pillars"  in  the  Apostolic 
Church  ;  hence  all  the  apostles  were  pillars.  They  were 
pillars  of  the  truth.  Upon  them,  as  on  pillars  of  stone, 
rested  the  sublime  arch  of  the  Gospel  promises.  The  Church 
visible,  "  in  its  ministry"  apostolic,  was  therefore  the  ordained 
upholder  and  keeper  of  the  truth  of  God.  It  wore  it  upon 
its  brows  as  the  blazing  mitre  rested  upon  the  head  of  Aaron, 
and  "  the  holy  crown  upon  the  mitre."  To  these  apostolic 
upholding-pillars  was  entrusted  the  weight  of  the  precious 
treasure  of  the  sacred  Gospel  which  had  dropped  from  Jesus' 
own  lips,  and  was  yet  unwritten. 

5  (51) 


52  PAMPHLETS   FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

The  Church,  in  the  beginning  of  its  existence,  continued 
for  a  whole  generation,  as  you  are  aware,  without  a  written 
Gospel;  the  New  Testament  not  having  then  been  committed 
to  writing,  being  engraved  only  in  the  tablets  of  the  hearts 
and  memories  of  the  apostles.  This  fact  it  is  very  important 
that  you  should  seriously  take  cognizance  of.  Undeniably,  the 
Church  is  older  than  the  New  Testament  by  a  generation  ! 
The  Church  was  planted,  established,  confirmed;  and  widely 
spread  over  Asia,  Northern  Africa,  and  Europe,  as  far  west 
as  Hispania,  without  the  New  Testament.  The  "  Church7' 
and  the  Church  alone,  by  its  ministers,  was  the  guide  and 
council,  and  supreme  law  of  the  early  Christians.  The 
apostles  and  their  fellow-laborers  were  the  Church  which  they 
were  commanded  "  to  hear."  That  this  is  true  need  not  be 
argued  to  prove,  for  it  is  history.  But  let  me  refer  you  for 
evidence  to  Acts  xvi.  4th  and  5th  verses. 

"  And  as  they  (Paul  and  Silas)  went  through  the  cities, 
they  delivered  them  the  decrees  to  keep,  that  were  or- 
dained of  the  apostles  and  elders  which  were  at  Jeru- 
salem.    And  so  were  the  Churches  established  in  the  faith." 

Here  we  learn  how,  that  before  the  New  Testament  was 
penned,  the  apostles  and  elders  issued  Decrees  which  were 
sent  to  the  Churches  to  establish  them  in  their  faith.  Hence 
it  is  clear  the  original  Church  was  settled  in  its  faith  without 
the  New  Testament;  in  other  words,  that  the  whole 
Church  in  the  first  generation  was  governed  by  the  decrees 
of  its  councils  alone.  The  early  Church,  therefore,  was  not 
only  older  than  the  New  Testament,  but  was  superior  to  it 
in  authority  ;  for  what  existed  must  be  of  necessity  superior 
to  that  which  did  not  yet  exist.  From  hence  we  perceive 
that  the  authority  of  the  Church,  as  represented  in  its  minis- 
try, in  matters  of  faith  and  doctrine,  is  no  new  thing; 
and  that  if  any  church  now  holds  such  authority  in  reverence, 
instead  of  being  an  argument   against   said   church,  even 


NUMBER    SIX  53 

though  it  wore  the  Papal,  it  ought  to  be  plausible  evidence 
in  behalf  of  its  being  apostolical,  at  least,  so  far.  But  I  do 
not  wish  to  make  use  of  this  argument — I  only  wish  to 
hint  it. 

The  New  Testament  came  to  be  written  in  this  way  :  After 
Paul,  John,  Peter,  and  James  had  planted  churches,  teaching 
them  the  Christian  faith  by  word  of  mouth,  in  the  sub- 
stance, if  not  in  the  very  words  of  "  The  Apostles'  Creed," 
fwhich  was  all  of  the  New  Testament  that  was  then  existing,) 
they  finally  addressed  to  them  letters  of  advice,  direction, 
reproof,  instruction,  and  exhortation,  which  letters  being 
preserved  and  read  in  the  congregations,  were  (after  the 
death  of  the  apostles,  when  they  could  no  longer  hear  tliem) 
collected  by  the  churches,  and  copied  and  interchanged  from 
one  church  to  another.  It  was  not  until  more  than  one  hundred 
years  after  Ch'rist  that  all  the  Asiatic  Churches  had  copies  of 
all  the  apostolic  letters,  which,  now  that  the  apostles  were 
dead,  they  received  as  their  living  voice,  as  "  being  dead,  yet 
speaking!"  Also,  previously,  Mark,  Matthew,  Luke,  and 
John  had  written  biographies  of  the  earthly  life  of  Jesus, 
their  ascended  Lord,  and  left  these  Gospels,  at  their  deaths, 
as  legacies  to  the  churches.  It  was,  however,  many  years 
before  these  inspired  apostolic  writings  were  all  collected 
into  the  present  form  and  canon  of  the  "  New  Testament." 

It  is  important  now  to  keep  prominently  in  mind  the  fact, 
previously  stated,  that  for  many  years  the  Church  had  no 
New  Testament,  but  only  the  apostles  to  teach,  guide,  de- 
cide for  it,  and  rule  it !  Not  the  apostles  alone  gave  u  de- 
crees" to  the  churches,  but  the  elders  also.  (Luke  xvi., 
4th  again.)  These  elders  were  men  ordained  hy  the  apostles  ; 
and  if  to  them  was  committed  already  a  share  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church,  and  in  directing  and  settling  its  faith, 
it  is  clearly  established  that  all  "  elders,"  successors  of  the 
apostles,  when  the  apostles  should  die,  would  be  the  succes- 


54  PAMPHLETS   FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

sive  u  authority  of  the  Church''*  for  decreeing  what  were 
articles  of  faith — you  very  well  know  that  the  whole  canon  was 
not  settled  and  consolidated  into  one  book  for  all,  until  long 
after  the  apostles  were  dead.  This  being  admitted,  who  de- 
cided upon  what  were  genuine  apostolic  letters  and  doctrines  ? 
Who  settled  matters  of  faith  that  u  were  hard  to  be  under- 
stood, and  which  the  weak  might  wrest  to  their  own  damna- 
tion V*  Who  decided,  authoritatively,  upon  the  "  canon" 
but  the  men  who  succeeded  the  apostles  in  their  office  of 
governing  the  Church,  (call  them  Elders,  Presbyters,  Bishops, 
or  Overseers,  or  what  you  fancy,)  and  who  knew  the  mind 
of  the  apostles.  They,  equally  with  the  apostles,  were  the 
"  pillars  and  ground  of  the  truth."  From  their  decision  in 
full  council  there  was  no  appeal — could  be  no  appeal — for 
unquestionably  they  were  the  divinely  constituted  su- 
preme earthly  tribune  of  the  Church.  In  their  apostolic 
representative  office,  they  were  as  the  apostles,  their  prede- 
cessors, had  been,  the  voice  of  Christ,  who  said :  "  He  that 
heareth  you,  heareth  ME  V  This  conclusion  is  resistless,  and 
must  be  admitted,  or  you  overturn  all  rule,  and  all  authority, 
and  ignore  all  power  in  the  Church  of  God,  undermine  the 
pillars  on  which  his  truth  stands,  and  topple  over  the  whole 
divine  fabric  of  that  holy  House  of  Christ  and  God,  of  which 
Jesus  is  the  glorious  corner-stone,  and  the  apostles  the  foun- 
dation stones.  Take  from  the  ministry  of  the  Church  (which 
I  have  reminded  you  is  older  than  the  New  Testament,  and 
first  in  authority,  as  to  time)  the  authority  to  decide  upon 
errors  of  faith  and  doctrine  among  its  children,  and  you  level 
the  walls  of  Zion  with  the  ground,  and  expose  the  fair  towers 
of  the  city  of  God,  the  New  Jerusalem,  to  be  trodden  down, 
its  altars  to  be  overthrown,  its  sacred  things  to  be  defiled, 
and  fill  its  courts  with  desolation.  It  is  this  systematic  re- 
fusal of  men  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  Church,  as  she  cries 
aloud  :  "  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it,"'  that  leads  men  to 


NUMBER    STX.  55 

substitute,  like  Joseph  Wolff,  u  their  own  inward  voice;" 
and  which  has  given  rise  to  the  "  Legion"  of  sects  calling 
themselves  Christians,  that  to-day  overrun  Christendom! 
It  is  this  private  monanthropic  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, that  has  given  rise  to  Mormonism,  to  Unitarianism, 
and  to  all  the  other  shapes  of  dissent  which  rend  the  body 
of  Christ  as  if  it  had  been  torn  by  foes  instead  of  his  own 
household.  The  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  the  apostolic 
ministry  of  the  Church  is  the  legitimate  interpreter  to  the 
Church  (the  sense  of  Scripture,)  and  settler  of  faith,  inasmuch 
as  the  ministry  apostolic  originally  gave  the  Scriptures  to  the 
Church!  But  such  a  conclusion  inevitably  involves  the 
mighty  doctrine  that  Christ  is  with  his  Church  in  its  general 
oecumenical  councils,  to  guide  them  into  all  truth  in  their  de- 
cisions. To  doubt  this  fact,  would  be  to  surrender  to  you 
all  I  contend  for.  It  is  because  Christ  is  in  his  Church, 
through  its  authoritative  ministry,  that  the  councils  of  its 
ministers  arc  autlwrtative  in  their  decisions.  To  doubt  this 
would  be  to  deny  that  Christ  is  within  or  with  his  Church  at 
all.  If  he  reigns  in  it,  he  reigns  in  it  authoritatively  upon 
the  throne  of  the  succession  in  the  personal  office  of  the 
ministry  of  the  Church,  which  is  the  visible  Head  of  "  his 
body  Ecclesiastic." 

I  hear  you  object  to  this  doctrine  as  "  Romish,"  although 
I  perceive  that  your  candor  will  prompt  you  to  accede  to 
"the  probabilities"  of  its  correctness.  But  sensible  men  re- 
ject nothing  because  it  has  been  abused !  You  may,  with 
equal  prudence,  reject  the  Sacraments,  because  Rome  has 
them !  The  abuse  of  a  thing  does  not  make  the  thing  itself 
evil.  The  office  of  a  judge  has  often  been  abused,  but  this 
does  not  of  necessity  make  the  office  evil!  Christianity  is 
daily  made  the  cloak  of  vice,  yet  this  abuse  of  it  does  not 
make  Christianity  an  evil.  The  Romish  Church  has  abused 
the  privileges  of  the  "  Succession."  She  has,  in  the  person 
5* 


56  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

of  her  Popes,  wickedly  usurped  the  actual  authority  and  at- 
tributes of  Christ,  sitting  as  God  in  the  Temple  of  God.  But 
an  usurper  of  powers  not  allowed  by  constitutional  law,  does 
not  invalidate  the  just  rights  appertaining  to  a  lawful  occupa- 
tion of  the  throne. 

Because  a  gift  or  bequest  is  liable  to  abuse,  ought  not  to  be 
a  good  and  sufficient  reason  for  refusing  it.  That  whatever 
God  bestows  on  our  fallen  race  is  liable  to  abuse,  you  need 
not  be  told.  With  his  gold,  men  reward  vice  and  bribe  to 
crime.  With  his  iron,  forge  swords  to  slay  their  fellow  men. 
Property  inherited  is  liable  to  abuse;  but  ought  this  to  be  given 
as  a  reason  why  estates  ought  not  to  descend.  The  Apos- 
tolical succession  was  a  gift  of  Christ  to  his  Church :  it  has 
been  abused,  but  ought  it,  therefor,  to  be  rejected  ?  I  speak 
as  to  a  man  of  sense.  Christ  gave  us  the  Church,  be- 
queathed to  us  the  hereditary  ministry,  gave  us  the  Holy 
Scriptures  by  their  hands,  and  the  Blessed  Sacraments,  and 
we  and  the  ministry  have  abused  these  divine  gifts ;  yet  will 
you  repudiate  them,  and  deny  that  they  came  from  God! 

The  Church  is  as  much  from  God  as  the  Bible,  The 
former  speaks  to  us  ministerially,  the  latter  authoritatively. 
"As  soon  as  we  are  conscious  of  anything,  we  find  the  Church 
with  the  Holy  Scripture  in  her  hands,"  and  a  ministry  ap- 
pointed by  God  to  deliver  it  to  us,  and  to  instruct  us  in  its 
meaning.  Whatsoever  is  novel,  she  safely  presumes  to  be 
false,  and  teaches  so.  Her  doctrine  which  was  received  at 
the  first,  and  has  come  down  to  us  is  true.  Her  motto  is  :  "  Id 
verius  quod  prius,  id  prius  quod  ab  initio." 

I  will  now  proceed  to  show  you  wherein  the  Episcopal  or 
Anglican  Church  (for  the  term  w  Anglican"  embraces  not 
only  the  Church  in  England,  but  all  its  branches  in  unity 
with  it)  not  only  recognizes  this  foregoing  doctrine,  but 
practices  it.  The  Book  oe  Common  Prayer  is  her  authorita- 
tive voice  in  her  Apostolic  Council.    In  the  office  of  Baptism 


NUMBER    SIX.  57 

therein,  slie  has  instructed  her  children,  with  authority,  how 
to  interpret,  and  how  she  interprets,  and  hew  the  Church  has 

interpreted  and  practiced,  from  the  Apostolic  beginning,  the 
doctrine  of  baptism,  as  laid  down  in  the  New  Testament. 
In  her  offices  of  Confirmation,  of  the  Holy  Communion,  and 
of  "  Orders/'  she  teaches  and  authoritatively,  not  inferentially, 
directs  what  ought  to  be  believed  and  practiced  by  all  in  hex 
communion,  whether  lay  or  clerical.  Her  Common  Prayer 
Book  is  her  interpretation  of  God's  word  !  Her  Creed  and 
and  her  Articles  teach,  with  all  authority,  what  a  u  Chris- 
tian man"  ought  to  believe  to  his  soul's  health?  Every- 
where in  its  pages  the  Prayer  Book  is  the  voice  of  the  Apos- 
tolic ministry,  in  its  highest  expression  of  governing  power 
and  judicial  authority,  in  council  assembled ;  majestically 
vindicating  "  the  Divine  Constitution  of  the  ministry  of  the 
Church,"  the  efficacy  of  the  sacraments  as  "  channels  and 
means  of  grace,"  the  use  of  a  scriptural  Liturgy  as  "  aids  to 
devotion,"  and  "  a  perpetual  witness  and  exhibitor"  of  evan- 
gelical truth,  as  received  and  taught  by  the  Church  in  all 
ages,  and  by  the  Church  handed  down  to  this  age.  The 
cardinal  doctrines  of  redemption  and  grace  pervade  the  Prayer 
Book,  like  threads  of  gold  interwoven. 

The  Anglican  Church,  therefore,  does  authoritatively  in- 
terpret Scripture.  The  Prayer  Book  is  the  Bible  ar- 
ranged by  the  Church  for  her  children.  It  says  to 
us  all — 

"  Thus  did  the  early  Church  receive  and  interpret  the 
doctrines  of  her  Master  !  Her  faith,  her  formularies,  and  her 
practices  have  been  handed  down  through  a  successive  Apos- 
tolic ministry.  We  baptize  infants,  because  infant  baptism 
has  come  down  to  us  from  the  Apostolic  day,  though  we  can 
&\so  jind  full  warrant  for  it  in  Holy  Scripture  ;  but  it  was 
practiced  within  the  Church  he/ore  the  Xcw  Testament  was 
given  to  the  Church,  and  is  therefore  a  die  hie  institution  and 
an  obligation  upon  men.     AVe  confirm  the  baptized,  because 


58  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

the  early  Apostolic  ministry  always  confirmed  after  baptism, 
and,  therefore,  though  we  had  no  warrant  for  this  rite  in  the 
New  Testament,  we  should  follow  the  previous  and  never 
changing  law  and  custom  in  the  ancient  Apostolic  Church." 
You,  my  brother,  would  call  this  tradition.  I  call  it  a 
perpetual  and  ever-living  LAW. 

Fraternally, 

Justus. 


PAMPHLETS  FOE  THE  PEOPLE. 


MMIJEIt  SEVEN. 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.  R.  ABBEY,   OP   TnE   METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CnPRCn, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

I  now  come  to  your  second  objection  to  the  succes- 
sion; that  "it  leads  the  Anglican  clergy  to  affect  Romish 
customs  and  preach  Romish  doctrines."  To  this  I  could 
answer,  that  if  they  do  such  things  they  are  not  Episcopal 
clergymen,  but  Romish  priests,  and  were  under  a  grievous 
mistake  in  choosing  the  Episcopal  Church ;  and  usually, 
favorably  for  us,  when  such  persons  begin  to  be  inoculated 
with  the  virus  of  Papacy,  they  do  leave  us,  not  being  able  to 
take  the  disease  in  the  natural  way  among  us.  But  to  say 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  Succession  in  the  Episcopal  Church 
leads  to  Rome,  is  as  if  I  were  to  argue  that  the  Presbyterian 
doctrine  of  Predestination  leads  to  Canterbury;  because, 
within  some  years  past,  quite  Three  Hundred  of  her  minis- 
ters have  become  Episcopalians,  and  most  of  them,  even  now, 
pious  Apostolic  bishops  and  clergymen  in  her  communion  : 
or  that  the  exclusive  doctrine  of  instantaneous,  visible,  public 
conversion,  by  a  miracle  of  the  spirit,  apparent  as  that  at 
Pentecost,  held,  I  believe,  in  your  communion,  has  a  tendency 
to  the  Church,  because  many  of  your  ministers  and  intelligent 
laymen  come  into  it.  But  you  are  in  error  touching  the 
number  going  from  our  Church  to  Rome.  The  whole  num- 
ber of  our  clergy,  dead  and  living,  since  the  consecration  of 
Bishop  White,  is  upward  of  five  thousand  men.  Of  these, 
not  twenty  have  perverted  to  Rome ;  in  England,  since  the 

(59) 


60  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

reign  of  Elizabeth,  out  of,  in  all,  90,000  clergymen,  not  160 
have  "  gone  to  Rome."  And  of  Bishops  not  one,  in  Eng- 
land, in  the  three  hundred  years  since  the  Reformation ;  and 
in  this  country  but  one,  the  late  Bishop  Silliman  Ives,  has 
ever  transferred  himself  to  the  Romish  communion.  Yet, 
in  the  face  of  these  facts,  which  ought  to  have  been  known 
to  you,  (and  if  not  known  to  you,  ought  you  not  to  have 
maintained  that  "silence  which  never  uttereth  evil?")  in 
the  face  of  these  facts,  you  write  in  your  Book  against  us 
these  words :  "  Your  doctrine  of  succession  not  only  leads 
you  away  from  Christ,  (ah,  my  brother,  it  binds  us  to  Christ,) 
but  it  leads  you  toward  Rome!  The  infallibility  of  the 
Church,  which  can  only  make  your  doctrine  consistent  with 
itself,  has  now  led  off  one  of  your  distinguished  bishops,  and 
he  has  gone  to  Rome  also.  And  in  England  they  are  going 
by  hundreds."* 

This  is  your  language  !  How  can  a  Christian,  and  a  min- 
ister of  the  truth,  put  such  words  upon  paper,  to  be  put  into 
type,  to  be  read  by  all  eyes,  and  to  be  brought  up  in  judg- 
ment at  the  last  day  by  Him  who  said :  "  He  that  slandereth 
his  neighbor,  him  will  I  cut  off."  You  cannot  lay  your 
finger  on  one  Bishop  in  England  who  has  gone  to  Rome, 
and  but  one  in  the  whole  Protestant  Church,  and  yet  you  say 
they  are  going  "  by  Hundreds !" 

I  will  now  appeal  Ho  any  unprejudiced  mind,  if  out  of 
nearly  one  hundred  thousand  clergymen  in  the  Anglican 
Church,  since  the  Reformation,  not  one  hundred  and  fifty 
have  seceded  to  Rome ;  and  out  of  nineteen  hundred  Bishops, 
but  one  (and  he  asserted  by  his  own  brother  and  family  phy- 
sicians to  be  a  deranged  man)  gone  to  Rome;  if  you  have 
made  out  your  case  !  if  you  are  sustained  in  your  assevera- 
tion !  if,  on  the  contrary,  I  do  not  show  that  the  Episcopal 
Church  is  not  only  not  Roman,  but  its  integrity  unshaken  in 
that  direction ;  else,  also,  is  the  Presbyterian  Church  Epis- 
*  Abbey's  Apostolical  Succession,  pp.  190,  191. 


NUMBER   SEVEN.  61 

copaliau  !  which  if  you  and  your  allied  Presbyterian  friends 
will  not  admit,  then  you  cannot  assert  of  us  that  we  are 
Romanist,  except  by  bearing  "false  witness  against  your 
neighbor."* 

But,  my  brother,  what  do  you  call  Romish  doctrines?  I 
boldy  charge  you  with  preaching  Romish  doctrines  !  You 
preach  faith  in  Christ,  so  do  the  Romish  priests;  this  is 
therefore  a  Romish  doctrine.  You  preach  a  hell — so  do  they  ! 
You  preach  repentance  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead — so 
do  they  !  You  preach  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the  third  person  in 
the  Blessed  Trinity — so  do  they  !  But  I  do  not  believe, 
brother,  you  preach  a  purgatory,  or  invocation  of  Saints,  or 
the  adoration  of  the  Virgin,  or  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope, 
or  any  other  doctrine  not  found  in  the  New  Testament.  I 
wish  you  would  be  so  charitable  as  to  believe  the  same  of  us. 
I  assure  you  we  do  not  preach  Romish  doctrines,  unless  they 
be  also  Christian  doctrines.  Believe  us  so  far !  I  ques- 
tion whether  you  ever  heard  other  doctrines  than  you 
preach  from  an  Episcopal  pulpit,  unless  it  be  that  one  of  the 
"  Succession/'  which  is  a  doctrine,  I  allow,  as  some  are 
that  you  preach ;  but  I  believe  your  pulpits  have  dropped 
this  doctrine  since  Mr.  Wesley's  death.  But,  because  it  is 
Roman,  it  is  not  therefore  not  Christian  ;  else  would  you 
preach  to  your  hearers  nothing  besides  Roman  doctrines — 
nay  no  Christian  doctrines  at  all ! 

But  you  say  the  practices  of  some  of  our  clergy  are  Romish. 
So  are  those  of  your  own,  brother.  They  pray  to  God,  and 
so  do  you.  They  kneel  in  prayer  and  so  do  you !  They 
say  "  Amen,"  and,  I  believe,  your  people  do,  also  !  They 
preach  from  pulpits,  and,  I  presume,  you  do.  They  preach 
extempore — so  do  you.  They  confess  their  sins  to  one 
another,  and  so  do  you  in  your  stated  class-meeting  "  Con- 
fessions," called  "  telling  experiences."     They  rule  very  dic- 

"  Bishop  Green,  of  Mississippi,  is  almost  my  neighbor."  Preface  to 
"Abbey's  Apostolical  Succession." 


62  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

tatorially,  and  with  all  authority,  (priest-ridden  it  is  called,) 
especially  over  the  weaker  sex  !  So  do  your  priests  with  equal 
autocracy  of  ecclesiastical  exaction  and  authority.  Lastly, 
they  do  not  admit  the  laity  into  their  councils,  neither  do 
you!  And  your  Itineracy  is  but  a  modification  of  their 
Jesuitical  system. 

Ah,  my  brother,  painfully  do  I  fear  you  are  tending,  im- 
perceptibly, toward  Rome,  if  all  this  be  true  touching  your 
"  Romish  practices."  I  assure  you,  in  the  sincerest  manner, 
and  with  my  friendly  hand  confidentially  laid  on  your 
shoulder,  that  "if  you  have  nothing  to  countervail  all  this 
catalogue  of  the  Romish  practices  of  your  Church,  they  will 
be  almost  indefinitely  extended"  to  the  great  scandal  of  all 
good  Christians,  and  especially  of  "  little  Benjamin,"  your 
Episcopalian  brother. 

Your  Romish  argument  effectually  prostrates  you,  if  it  does 
the  Christian  body  at  which  you  have  aimed  it !  You  know 
the  homely  Spanish  adage :  "  It  is  a  poor  spur  that  wont  fit  both 
flanks."  Ah,  sir,  I  begin  to  fear  (the  more  I  dip  into  your 
book)  that  it  was  written  more  to  do  injury  to  us,  and  to  try 
to  hold  us  up  to  the  contempt  of  the  world,  as  in  early  times 
"  this  faith  was  everywhere  spoken  against,"  rather  than  from 
(what  I  hoped  to  find  as  I  read)  a  philanthropic  desire  to 
purify  u  the  church  of  your  hostility,"  as  now  it  evidently 
appears  to  be.  Why,  sir,  did  you  write  a  book  against  us  ? 
Did  not  the  secret  fear  creep  under  your  heart,  as  you  replen- 
ished from  time  to  time  your  inkstand  with  honest  black  ink, 
all  innocent  of  its  destined  duty,  that,  perhaps,  after  all,  you 
were  attaching  a  church  of  God  !  that  you  were  spitting  on 
Christ's  body  with  his  Jewish  crucifiers,  and  crowning  Him 
again  with  thorns  !  scourging  once  more  his  naked  shoulders 
with  the  lash!  Did  not  the  shadow  of  an  idea  pass  through 
your  mind,  as  you  were  writing  your  ecclesiastical  phillipics, 
that  you  might  be  sitting  in  the  procuratorial  chair  of  Pontius 
Pilate,  signing  a  second  time  the  death-warrant  of  Jesus? 


NUMBER    SEVEN.  G3 

4<  For  in  that  ye  did  it  unto  the  least  of  these  ye  did  it  unto 
me/'  are  his  words. 

I  should  like  to  know.  I  shall  know  at  that  judgment  day, 
"  when  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  will  be  revealed."  But,  as 
under  the  signature  of  Pilate  an  eye  of  faith  might  have  seen 
inscribed,  in  living  glory,  the  word,  "  ResuKGAM,"  so  at  the 
end  of  your  book,  of  your  sentence  of  death  against  the  church, 
I  have  written  "  Rcsunjam,  with  hope  and  faith."  Yes,  my 
brother,  though  you  could  crucify  the  American  church,  which 
you  have  so  shamefully  and  wickedly  attacked  and  held  up  to  its 
neighbors  and  to  the  world  as  an  imposture,  it  would  recover  its 
life  when  you  thought  it  buried  forever  in  the  tomb  which  your 
hostilities  have  cut  out  for  it  in  the  rock  of  your  prejudices, 
and  show  itself  to  possess  an  immortal  body,  outliving  the 
nails  and  thrusts  of  the  spear. 

You  have  done  an  evil  work,  my  brother;  and  if  my  weak 
effort  to  undo  it  prevent  the  spread  of  your  sinful  hostility, 
and  help  to  recover  the  faith  of  any  church  people  whom  it 
may  have  shaken,  you  ought  to  see  in  me  a  friend,  like  him 
who  gently  takes  the  passionate  man's  weapon  from  him  in 
his  moment  of  anger,  to  receive  afterwards  in  his  calmer 
moments,  from  his  grateful  lips,  heart-felt  expressions  of 
gratitude. 

"Faith  meetly  may  blame, 
For  it  serves  and  adores. 
Thou  warnest  and  smitest — 

Yet  Christ  must  atone 
For  a  soul  that  thou  slightest, 
Thine  own !" 

One  may  be  able,  I  may  here  remark,  to  destroy,  and  yet 
fail  to  build  up.  "The  power  of  demolition  and  that  of 
sound  construction,"  says  an  able  writer,  "  are  not  neces- 
sarily correlatives.  He  who  goes  about  to  destroy  is  rarely 
one  upon  whose  judgment  we  can  rely  to  lay  the  solid  foun- 

6 


64  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

dations  of  truth,  or  to  perceive  their  just  proportions. "  It 
is  easier  to  frame  a  theory  than  to  accept  one  which  has  the 
sanction  of  legitimate  authority. 

Having  now  considered  the  four  chief  objections,  or 
rather  assertions,  which  you  advance  against  "the  Succession/' 
viz.  :  that  it  takes  us  to  Rome  and  the  authoritative  interpre- 
tation of  the  word  of  God;  that  it  tempts  the  Clergy  to 
teach  and  affect  Romish  doctrines  and  practices ;  that  it  sent 
Bishop  Ives  to  Rome ;  that  it  takes  "  hundreds"  of  Bishops 
of  the  Church  of  England  there ;  I  will  now  notice  the  fifth, 
viz. :  that  "  it  inclines  the  Clergy  of  the  Church  to  loose 
and  immoral  lives."  This  is  the  grossest  charge  of  all,  and 
evidently  incapable  of  being  maintained  by  the  facts.  You 
seem  to  infer  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Succession  communi- 
cates to  the  members  of  a  "  Succession  Church,"  both  priest 
and  people,  such  a  calm  consciousness  of  safety,  that  they  do 
not  feel  at  all  anxious  touching  their  soul's  ultimate  salva- 
tion ;  that  being  in  "  the  Church"  so  assures  them  prima 
facie  of  salvation,  that;  live  as  they  choose,  they  will 
assuredly  be  saved. 

I  believe  I  have  correctly  stated  your  propositions. 

But  just  now  you  did  put  me  upon  the  defence  of  my  be- 
loved Church  against  tendencies  to  Rome.  Now,  in  plain 
words,  you  do  verily  place  me  upon  its  defence  against  ten- 
dencies to  hell.  Your  whole  language  in  your  seventeenth 
letter  is  of  such  a  denunciatory  character,  that  were  you 
chosen  to  attack  a  Church  set  up  by  Satan,  in  order  to  try 
and  overthrow  it,  you  have  need  only  to  make  use  of  the 
same  vocabulary  you  have  selected  to  attack  the  branch  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  called  Episcopal.  Not  content  with 
attacking  its  divine  doctrines,  its  holy  faith,  its  venerable 
practices,  its  sacred  orders,  its  inimitable  and  Scriptural 
Liturgy,  which  the  united  "  voices  of  millions  have  swelled 
to  Heaven,"  and  which  is  enriched  with  the  pious  minds  of 
ages  ;  not  content  with  attacking  her  venerable  Bishops  and 


NUMBER   PEVKX.  65 

their  apostolic  office  ;  not  satisfied  with  assailing  her  in  her 

formularies  and  rites,  in  her  articles  and  in  her  prayers,  in 
her  preaching  and  in  her  usages,  you  now  launch  your  arrows 
of  hatred  mortal,  of  untiring  hostility,  of  quenchless  sec- 
tarian prejudice  against  the  moral  character  of  her  Clergy, 
and  of  her  faithful  members.  You  write,  sir,  not  like  a  con- 
troversialist, but  like  a  man  who  has  some  deep  personal 
wrong  to  avenge  !  Your  pen  creeps  with  the  unceasing  tread 
of  the  sleuth-hound,  following  in  and  out  all  the  paths  of 
the  fugitive  upon  whose  track  it  is  put  j  and  it  ceases  not, 
flags  not,  tires  not,  until  it  has  reached  its  victim,  dragged  it 
to  the  ground,  and  drank  its  blood.  Your  animosity  to  the 
Church  is  p<  rsonal!  It  is  too  violent,  too  bitter,  to  be 
simply  prompted  by  difference  of  religious  faith. 

They  tell  me  you  are  a  Christian  minister,  and,  I  believe, 
you  say  so  in  your  book.  If  I  am  to  have,  by  you,  a  favor- 
able opinion  of  the  Christian  character  of  ministers  which 
your  Church  produces,  I  should  not  be  far  behind  you  in  de- 
nouncing it.  But  I  have  seen  too  much  of  men,  and  of  tho 
Churches  among  men,  to  judge  of  the  ministry  by  the  excep- 
tions. I  know  that  your  Church  contains  thousands  of  pious, 
zealous,  and  good  men,  truly  apostolic  men  in  spirit  and  in 
vast  labors — modern  Pauls  and  Johns,  by  hundreds  !  I 
knoic  that  your  Bishops  are  pious,  and  wise,  and  correct  men 
of  God,  that  they  would  do  honor  to  the  early  Church 
itself,  when  men  counted  not  "  their  lives  dear  for  the  love 
of  Christ/'  that  they  might  win  souls !  I  have  known 
these  your  Bishops  and  your  Clergy  personally.  I  have  seen 
them  live,  and  I  have  seen  some  of  them  die,  and  I  have 
then  said  this  prayer  in  my  heart :  "  May  my  last  end  be  like 
theirs  I"  I  have  seen  your  laity,  and  especially  your  female 
members,  in  afflictions  and  sorrows  that  tried  their  faith  to  its 
utmost,  and  I  then  thought  of  "  the  holy  women"  of  Paul's 
day,  of  Eunice  and  Lois,  and  of  the  blessed  women  who 
administered  to  the  disciples,  and  stood  at  the  cross'  foot  in 


66  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

tears,  and  said  in  my  heart,  "  Such  were  the  Christian 
women  of  Scripture."  Sir,  I  do  full  justice  to  your  Church, 
to  its  zeal,  to  its  purity,  and  its  good  works ;  and  it  has 
been  my  prayer,  and  is  this  day,  that  the  bonds  of  unity  and 
union  between  us  might  be  drawn  closer  and  closer,  instead 
of  wider  and  wider  severed,  and  that  we  all  might  be  one  in 
the  unity  of  the  Spirit  and  in  the  bond  of  peace  !  Once  of 
us,  We  have  never  ceased  to  regard  you  with  fraternal  affec- 
tion ;  and  although  your  book  will,  for  a  time,  widen  farther 
still  the  two  communions,  yet  I  trust  the  time  is  not  far  off 
when,  by  mutual  advances — charitable  concessions  on  both 
sides — this  grievous  bleeding  wound  in  Christ's  body  may  be 
healed,  and  we  shall  all  be  one  in  him  as  he  is  one  in  the 
Father. 

Your  book  can  do  no  good.  It  can  effect  no  beneficial  re- 
sult. It  will,  on  the  contrary,  increase  hatred  and  malice, 
and  all  uncharitableness,  wherever  it  goes.  It  will  be  a  root 
of  bitterness  in  many  a  neighborhood  and  household,  where 
before  there  was  at  least  Christian  forbearance,  if  not  peace. 

Yours,  fraternally, 

Justus. 


PAMPHLETS  TOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


KUMIII2K  EIGHT. 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.  R.  ABBEY,  OF  TnE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

Now  to  the  question  of  morals  in  the  ministry  of  our 
Church.  You  speak  the  truth  when  you  say  that  two  Bishops 
in  the  Episcopal  Church  have  fallen  !  Alas,  that  it  were  not 
true  !  But,  if  you  can  charge  the  Church  with  retaining 
them  in  its  service  after  their  guilt  was  known  and  proven,  you 
can  fasten  upon  it  their  sins.  But  if  she  cast  them  out,  then 
she  cannot  be  charged  with  present  accountability.  They 
were  both  degraded  in  full  council,  sir,  as  you  well  know, 
and  therefore  the  Church  declares  to  the  world  that  she  does 
not  recognize  or  wink  at  immorality  in  high  places,  or  in  low — 
that  her  garments  are  clean  from  this  iniquity.  If  they  still 
were  with  us,  then  she  might  blush  with  shame ;  but  now  it 
is  the  blood  of  indignation  that  mounts  to  her  brow.  If  a 
State  let  its  criminals  go  free  in  society,  then  you  can  charge 
the  State  with  being  corrupt;  but  if  it  hang  them  or  punish 
them,  you  cannot  do  so  without  moral  turpitude.  The  Church 
therefore  tt  is  clear  when  she  is  judged"  on  such  grounds  of 
wrong,  and  charged  on  such  reasons  with  impurity.  She  re- 
pudiated even  suspicion  of  collusion,  sir,  by  her  act  of  de- 
gradation promptly  issued  against  the  offenders.  So  with 
Bishop  Ives.  His  diocese  has  unanimously  repudiated  his 
late  acts,  and  therefore  declares  her  disapproval  of  them  ! 
Can  Romanism  be  made  out  of  resolutions  of  censure  against 
a  man  for  going  to  Rome  ?  We  have  a  fourth  Bishop  ar- 
6*  (G7) 


68  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

raigned  for  alleged  malfeasance.  You  know,  sir,  a  court  of  the 
Church  is  already  summoned  to  sit  in  trial  upon  him.  If  he 
is  found  guilty,  be  assured  that  he  will  not  escape ! 

Does  this  purification  of  the  Church  of  impurity,  Roman- 
ism, and  peculation — does  this  prompt  decapitation  of  the 
heads  of  the  hydra,  when  they  appear  above  her  altars,  look 
like  taking  part  with  the  monster  sin  ?  Judge  you,  my 
brother. 

For  our  sins,  doubtless,  God  has  suffered  this  scandal  of 
our  then  Bishops  to  come  upon  us,  and  your  Book  !  I  trust 
that  both  calamities  will  lead  us  to  purify  our  spirits  and 
search  our  hearts,  and  humble  ourselves  before  God.  So,  if 
your  Book  produce  these  good  effects,  it  will  be  to  us  a  bless- 
ing, and  so  far  defeat  your  intentions,  my  brother.  You 
will  then  still  more  nearly  resemble  Balaam,  who,  going  forth 
to  curse  Israel,  left  a  blessing  upon  the  camp  of  God  instead. 
Will  you  point  to  a  single  Bishop  in  the  Church,  sir,  who 
lives  a  "  loose  and  wicked  life."  You  know  that  you  cannot — 
none  such  can  remain  in  her  bosom.  But  you  say  the  clergy 
are  not  pious ;  that,  "as  a  general  thing,  men  do  not  look  into 
our  pulpits  for  fervent  exhortations  to  piety,  or  bold  denun- 
ciations against  sin.  Your  preaching/7  you  add,  "  is  smooth, 
popular,  and  moral.  The  subject  matter  of  it  is  not  f  the 
Gospel  V  Who  ever  heard  you  warn  sinners,  denounce  sin, 
or  entreat  men  to  be  reconciled  to  God  ?  No  one  looks  for 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  truly  from  your  pulpits." 

It  strikes  me  that  I  have  only  to  leave  the  above  quotation 
here,  and  let  it  speak  to  truth-loving  men  for  itself !  I  will  not 
revile,  or  vocatively  use  emphatic  nouns  to  express  my  sense 
of  the  total  destitution  of  fact  contained  in  the  above  quota- 
tion, from  the  173d  page  of  your  book.  You  have  been 
peculiarly  unfortunate  in  the  Episcopal  clergymen  you  have 
heard  preach,  if  you  report  correctly.  My  own  experience 
clearly  contradicts  yours;  and  if  any  judicious  right-minded 
Methodists  read  this  pamphlet,  they  cannot  but  say  you  have 


NUMBER   EIGHT.  G9 

gone  a  little  too  far !  I  will  let  the  common  sense  of  the 
community  judge  you  herein,  and  leave  this  point  with  theim 
with  you  and  Grod,  to  consider  your  charge  against  the  morals 
of  the  clergy.  If  an  immoral  minister  is  preaching  in  our 
pulpits  he  ought  not  to  he  there,  and  with  my  consent  should 
be  unfrocked  to-day.  But  I  know  a  great  many  of  the  Church's 
clergy;  I  know  the  private  characters  of  more  of  them;  I 
have  by  me  a  list  of  nearly  1700  clergymen,  and  I  cannot, 
nor  can  you,  lay  your  hand  upon  the  name  of  one  who  "  games 
or  drinks,"  or  leads  a  worldly  life,  or  walks  in  ways  unbecom- 
ing his  sacred  office.  As  in  learning  and  in  evangelical  zeal, 
so  in  piety  and  blameless  lives,  they  will  favorably  compare 
with  any  clergymen  of  any  denomination.  Perhaps  you  do 
know  two  or  three  bad  men  among  them.  Is  it  fair  to  judge 
the  whole  church  by  their  characters.  Yet  this  is  your  style 
of  arguing.  I  have  a  right  to  turn  your  own  arguments  upon 
you.  You  have  heard  mo  give  already  my  sentiments  in  re- 
ference to  your  Church,  its  worthy  Bishops,  and  zealous  preach- 
ers and  pious  Laity.  I  did  not  allude,  and  would  not  now, 
if  I  did  not  wish  to  show  you  how  unkindly  you  reason  against 
the  Episcopal  Church  to  the  sins  in  your  own  body.  If  I 
had  taken  up  your  mode  of  argumentation,  I  should  not  have 
spoken  as  I  have  done  of  the  holy  and  pious  and  evangelical 
men  among  you,  but  on  your  principles  I  would  have  expressed 
my  opinion  of  your  communion  from  the  evil  men  in  it.  I 
would  have  said  that  I  knew  three  Methodist  preachers  to  be 
in  the  Tennessee  Penitentiary  at  the  same  time  for  crimes ; 
that  there  was  scarcely  a  prison  in  the  Union,  south  of  New 
York,  that  had  not  had  preachers  under  penance  in  them  ! 
Hence  on  your  principles  I  should  have  said  your  preachers 
were  only  fit  for  the  penitentiary,  and  your  Church  was  a  den 
of  thieves ;  just  as  you  say  our  Church  consists  of  "  gamesters, 
drinkers,  betters,  dancers,  play-goers,  and  in  England,  fox-hun- 
ters," &c.  But,  sir,  I  should  not  dare  to  meet  my  great  judge 
with    such  charges    against  your  Church,  based   upon  such 


70  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

worthless  exceptions ;  and  I  shrink  with  Christian  reluctance 
even  from  making  this  suggestive  allusion  that  way.  Also, 
if  I  had  had  such  hatred  of  jour  Church  as  you  have  of  mine 
(hatred  exists  not  in  hearts  fnll  of  the  love  of  God),  I  should 
from  the  fact,  that  two  of  your  leading  revival  preachers,  not 
very  long  ago,  were  detected  in  a  brothel  and  put  into  a  cala- 
boose, and  who  are  not  yet  expelled  from  the  ministry ;  and 
from  the  fact  that  another,  a  "star"  of  genius  in  your  eccle- 
siastical constellation,  visited  a  masquerade  ball  in  Mobile  and 
was  not  degraded  from  his  office ;  from  these  individual  cases 
I  would  have  condemned  your  whole  ministry  as  "  loose  and 
immoral,"  as  you  have  done  ours  from  individual  instances, 
declaring  us  to  be  horse-jockeys,  whoremongers,  thieves  and 
dancers  !  But  God  forbid  !  I  reject  your  principles  of  reason- 
ing. I  hasten  to  re-assert  that  your  Church  is  pure  and  evan- 
gelical, though  in  it  are  men  who  degrade  the  sacred  office 
and  dishonor  Christ.  It  will  not  do,  sir,  you  see,  to  judge 
a  Church  in  this  way ;  and  may  God  forgive  you  for  denounc- 
ing the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  slanderous  manner  you  have 
done  before  the  world — which  world  will  not  sustain  you, 
nor  will  your  own  Bishops  and  more  moderate  and  pious 
clergy. 

You  also  assert  of  our  laity,  that  vital  piety  is  not  exacted 
of  them,  nor  expected  from  them.  This  is  a  sad  error  into 
which  you  have  fallen,  my  brother.  I  will  make  use  here 
of  the  same  arguments  I  have  just  advanced  in  reference  to 
our  Clergy.  You  must  not  judge  the  whole  from  the  excep- 
tions. I  can  go  to  every  town  in  Tennessee  or  Mississippi, 
and  find  "  Methodists"  who  do  not  "  walk  as  becometh 
saints  3"  but  I  do  not  covet  the  occupation  of  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal scavenger,  looking  up  your  Church's  offal.  Your  book 
will  draw  the  world's  eyes  to  your  own  people  more  closely 
than  heretofore,  to  see  if  there  are  any  beams  in  their  eyes 
as  well  as  in  those  of  the  Episcopalians.  There  are  "  them 
that  walk  disorderly"  in  all  Churches,  as  you  who  are  a 


NUMBER   EIGIIT.  71 

minister  ought  to  know.  But  it  is  wholly  a  gratuitous 
charge  for  you  to  assert  that  men  of  the  world  do  not  scruple 
to  invite  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church  to  engage  in 
gaming,  drinking,  betting,  dancing,  and  theatre-going.  It  is 
not  so,  my  brother.  There  are  worldly  Church  members, 
tares  in  the  wheat,  who  give  scandal;  and  would  to  God 
they  would  walk  as  becometh  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  And  if 
they  will  not,  and  are  beyond  reformation,  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  Church  to  cast  them  out.  But  to  assert  that  the 
Church  allows  these  things  in  her  members,  is  wholly  incor- 
rect. It  is  the  duty  of  all  Clergymen  to  suspend  such  from 
the  Holy  Communion,  until  they  repent,  and  firmly  resolve, 
with  God's  grace,  to  lead  a  new  life.  I,  sir,  would  never 
administer  the  holy  bread  and  wine  to  any  parishioner  that 
I  knew  was  bringing  reproach  upon  his  or  her  Christian  pro- 
fession. The  Church  does  not  allow  dancing,*  horse-racing, 
gaming,  drinking,  and  theatre-going,  in  her  communicants ; 
and  if  they  do  these  things  they  are  not  Christians,  and  will 
be  judged  of  Him  who  will  one  day  separate  the  tares  from 
the  wheat  in  the  harvest  field  of  his  Church. 

[And  here  let  me  earnestly  urge  all  worldly  churchmen 
who  read  this  pamphlet;  and  who  by  their  lives  have  given 

*  If  the  Episcopal  Church  he  amenable  to  these  charges,  she  is  not 
alone.  At  a  meeting  of  the  New  School  General  Assembly,  held  at  Buffalo, 
May  10,  last,  "An  overture,  reprehending  promiscuous  dancing,  by  Church 
members,  was  answered  by  re-affirming  the  stringent  condemnation  of  a 
former  Assembly." 

Herein  are  /nothings  to  be  noted:  that  only  "promiscuous"  dancing 
was  reprehended,  thus  leaving  room  for  the  inference  that  private  unpro- 
miscuous  dancing  was  not  deemed  "  reprehensible"  by  the  New  School 
Presbyterians.  2d.  That  "promiscuous  dancing"  was  common  among 
their  "  Church  members;"  or  otherwise  there  would  have  been  no 
sity  for  the  motion  to  be  made.  I  bring  forward  this  fact,  because  in  your 
attack  you  join  the  Presbyterians  with  you  as  allies  against  us.  More- 
over, John  Calvin  played  dice  incontinently,  as  history  will  tell  you;  and 
devout  Martin  Luther  was  great  at  nine-pins.  A  "  ten  strike"  delighted 
him  as  greatly  as  if  he  had  upset  as  many  Papists. 


72  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

cause  for  wounds  to  be  inflicted  upon  Christ  u  in  the  house 
of  his  friends/'  to  remember  that  God  will  more  severely 
condemn  them  for  thus  bringing  his  Church  into  shame,  than 
the  unbaptized  sinners  who  have  never  professed  his  name. 
It  is  your  lives,  ye  few  gay  and  worldly  churchmen  and 
churchwomen,  that  have  caused  the  face  of  Christ  to  be  again 
spit  upon,  and  his  back  scourged,  and  severe  reproach  to  be 
brought  upon  the  Church  which  he  purchased  with  his  most 
precious  blood;  and  to  which  it  is  his  pride  and  glory 
to  point  the  Father  when  its  members  walk  humbly  with 
Him,  and  cultivate  holiness  of  heart  with  spiritual  lives. 
Your  "union  with  Christ"  will  be  of  no  avail  to  you;  but 
like  dead  limbs  he  w*ill  cut  you  off  and  cast  you  forth  to  be 
burned.] 

Sir,  I  do  confess,  with  conscious  shame,  that  some  of  our 
more  wealthy  and  young  Episcopalians  are  worldly;  but  I 
also  assert,  with  pride,  that  the  large  majority  are  pious, 
practical  Christians.  This  fact  cannot  be  denied.  I  appeal 
"to  all  the  towns,"  if  the  majority  of  the  Episcopalians  do 
not,  by  their  lives,  show  themselves  to  be  the  children  of 
God! 

Your  book  will  do  good !  For  one,  I  thank  you  for  it ! 
It  will  lead  to  self-examination  in  our  communion  ;  but  I 
protest  against  your  sweeping  condemnation  of  it  for  the 
gins  of  a  small  yet  perhaps  a  prominent  minority. 

There  is  one  point  in  your  objections  to  the  Succession 
which  I  wish  to  refer  to  before  I  quit  this  subject,  viz.  :  that 
this  doctrine  "  leads  to  assurance  of  salvation,"  and  hence 
the  "  careless  lives"  of  some  church  people.  In  reply,  allow 
me  to  give  you  a  brief  outline  of  our  faith  : 

We  believe  that  Christ  established  a  Church,  with  a 
divinely  organized  ministry,  to  which  he  committed  the 
sacraments,  the  ordinances,  and  the  promises  of  the  Gospel; 
that  this  Church,  so  organized,  is  to-day  authoritative 
through  its  ministry  in  all  conditions  that  constituted  the 


NUMBER   EIGHT.  73 

original  Church.  We  believe  that  this  visible  Church  re- 
presents the  body  of  Christ;  nay,  is  his  body  mystically; 
and  that  to  be  made  members  of  this  body,  baptism  upon  re- 
pentance is  necessary,  wheti  it  can  be  had ;  and  where  there 
arc  no  sins  to  be  repeutcd  of,  as  in  infants,  simply  baptism 
alone.  That  this  union  brings  us  into  a  relation  to  Christ 
which  wc  held  not  before,  and  can  only  hold  by  baptism  ; 
and  that  if  we  cultivate  holiness,  the  spirit  of  prayer,  love 
to  God  and  our  neighbor,  and  try  to  keep  God's  holy  com- 
mandments, commemorating  his  dying  love  at  his  table,  and 
"  looking  for  the  life  of  the  world  to  come,  through  faith  in 
the  atonement  of  Christ,"  we  shall  not  fail  hereafter  of  an 
eternal  union  with  his  Church  triumphant  in  Heaven. 

Our  baptism  into  the  Church  on  earth,  followed  by  a  Chris- 
tian life  of  faith  and  obedience,  is  the  ground  of  our  hope! 
If  we,  thus  united  to  Christ,  continue  to  love  God  and  "  keep 
his  coniniandnients,"  we  have  no  "  doubts,"  because  we  are 
incorporated  with  and  are  in  Christ's  Church  by  our  bap- 
tism ;  and  as  he  promised  to  present  his  Church  as  a  whole 
to  the  Father,  and  as  its  parts  are  composed  of  believers,  we 
also,  as  parts  of  the  whole,  shall  be  presented  with  it  and  in 
it  to  the  Father. 

But  if,  after  baptism,  we  do  not  follow  after  holiness,  and 
lead  pure  and  pious  lives,  loving  God  and  our  neighbor,  and 
cultivating  the  graces  of  the  Spirit,  we  do  not  expect  to  be 
saved  with  the  Church,  but  to  be  cast  out  of  it,  as  in  it  but 
not  of  it;  as  dead  branches,  as  "  hay  and  stubble/'  as  un- 
profitable servants,  as  the  worthless  tares  of  his  field,  fit  only 
to  be  burned.  "We  do  not  place  any  confidence  in  mere 
tactual  union  with  the  visible  Church,  through  its  ministry, 
and  in  its  sacraments,  unless  we  love  God  and  keep  his  com- 
mandments ;  but  rather  shall  suffer  the  greater  condemna- 
tion. But  to  the  pious  churchman,  the  consciousness  that  he 
is  in  tactual  union,  his  body  united  to  the  visible  body  of 
Christ   in  the  sacraments,  is  a  great  and  abiding  comfort. 


74  PAMPHLETS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

Under  all  gloom,  depression,  darkness,  and  temptations,  this 
consciousness  and  full  assurance  of  faitb  is  an  anchor  to  his 
soul,  sure  and  steadfast.  Though  storms  beat  and  billows 
roll,  he  knows  that  he  will  be  safe  at  last;  for  he  is  in  Christ's 
ark,  which  he  built  with  his  own  hands,  and  at  the  helm  of 
which  he  stands  to  guide  it,  "  ever  with  it  to  the  end  of  the 
world." 

There  are  uninformed  Church  people  who  presume  igno- 
rantlj  upon  their  privilege  as  being  "  sons  of  God,"  and  by 
careless  lives  unquestionably  do  wreck  forever  their  eternal 
hopes.  They  forget  that  to  be  heirs  is  not  actually  and  cer- 
tainly inheritance.  No,  sir,  we  allow  in  the  Church  no  sin, 
nor  permit  it  to  exist  where  we  know  it. 

There  is  another  subject  which  I  wish  to  say  a  few  words 
upon.  You  sneer  at  our  "  few,"  at  our  Bethlehem-Eph- 
ratha,  "  the  least  among  the  thousands  of  Judah,"  and  then 
ask  for  our  revivals  ?  and  how  many  members  are  added  to 
the  Church  a  year  !  and  then  point  to  the  Baptist  and  Metho- 
dist and  Presbyterian  accessions  with  the  triumph  of  David 
when  he  numbered  Israel.  You  should  be  aware  that  God 
is  displeased  with  this  boasting  confidence  in  numbers  !  "  Five 
shall  chase  a  hundred,"  He  says.  But  I  have  before  argued 
this  question  of  estimating  truth  by  enumeration.  I  must 
confess  our  numbers  compared  with  your  vast  accessions  are 
very  small.  Paul  was  several  days  at  Phillippi  and  only 
made  one  convert,  a  certain  Lydia,  a  seller  of  purple  j  and 
was  three  whole  years  in  a  city  of  Greece  and  collected  but 
a  very  small  church,  a  "  mere  Episcopal  congregation,"  in 
all  that  time.  John  Maffit  preached  a  few  days  in  Troy, 
New  York,  and  604  converts  "joined  the  Church"  on  pro- 
bation ! 

But  look  at  the  result — Paul's  Church  by  and  bye  grew 
apace,  till  it  included  all  Greece,  all  Macedonia,  Thessaly, 
Byzantium,  and  covered  the  whole  Eastern  empire,  and,  in 
the  year  315,  the  Emperor  of  the  East  was  among  its  con- 


NUMBER    ETC  ITT.  75 

verts,  with  all  his  vast  empire.  AVe  arc  not  Apostles  it  is 
true  j  and  the  Church  in  Mississippi  is  but  thirty  years  old. 
Twenty-six  years  ago  there  was  but  one  Church  in  the  State. 
Now  there  are  thirty-one,  and  twenty-three  clergymen  ;  and, 
perhaps,  in  300  years  hence  the  Church  may  effect  something 
more;  for  it  is  for  all  time,  and  it  is  fully  and  clearly  under- 
stood that  we  work  for  the  future  as  well  as  for  to-day.  In 
the  life  of  the  Church,  time  is  but  a  vouching  point. 

Fraternally  yours, 

Justus. 


PAMPHLETS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


NUMBER   MXE. 


ADDRESSED  TO  TIIE   REV.    R.  ABBEY,   OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

It  is  true  that  we  do  not  have  Revivals  in  "  your  way." 
We  are  taught  in  God's  Holy  Word  to  consider  every  day  a 
day  for  conversion,  and  in  which  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son 
of  God.  We  regard  every  day  as  suitable  for  offering  the 
Gospel  to  sinners,  and  that  the  Spirit  is  with  "two  or  three" 
whenever  met  together  in  his  name,  as  well  as  with  the 
multitude.  We  consider  "  now,"  not  next  Revival,  or  the 
next  camp-meeting,  but  noic,  "  the  accepted  time  and  day  of 
Salvation."  We  try  to  make  every  Sunday  a  revival  by 
winning  souls  on  that  day  !  We  work  on  week-days  steadily, 
constantly,  quietly,  and  with  desire  to  warn  men  to  turn  to 
God  and  be  saved.  When  the  world's  people  do  come  to  us 
in  sincerity,  they  seldom  go  back.  "  Back-sliding"  is  a  term 
incorporated  with  the  revival  and  probation  method  !  Your 
statistics,  I  fear,  count  all  who  are  "  converted,"  but  do  not 
subtract  all  who  "  backslide."  I  have  spoken  of  Mr.  Maffit's 
visit  to  Troy,  and  his  success  there,  quite  casting,  as  many  of 
your  revivalists  do,  St.  Paul  into  the  shade.  A  few  months, 
perhaps  ten,  after  Mr.  Maffit's  departure,  I  saw  in  a  northern 
Methodist  Journal  an  article  to  this  purport : — 

"  What  is  the  defect  in  our  system  ?  Our  revival  statistics 
fall  off  strangely  and  unaccountably.  The  Methodist  de- 
nomination has  decreased  in  the  whole  State  upward  of  4000 
since  the  last  estimate.     When  Mr.  Maffit  preached  here, 

(77) 


78  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

six  hundred  and  four  persons  were  converted,  and  joined  the 
Church  on  probation ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  six  months  not 
above  twenty  remained  true." 

And  similar,  I  apprehend,  my  brother,  would  be  the  issue 
of  nearly  all  your  great  revivals  and  camp-meetings,  if  the 
statistics  of  conversion  were  revised  and  corrected  at  the  end 
of  the  six  months'  probation.  As  an  illustration  of  this,  I 
refer  you  to  the  life  of  George  Shadford,  one  of  your  great 
Revivalists,  who  says,  (Methodist  Magazine,  1818,)  "  We 
added  1800  members,  and  we  had  good  reason  to  believe  that 
a  thousand  of  them  were  converted  to  God."  Here,  then, 
your  revival  system  admits  800  members  who  are  unconverted 
to  God !  Can  you  bring  a  charge  at  all  like  this  against  the 
Episcopal  Church,  of  admitting  as  members  8  unconverted 
persons  out  of  every  18  members  ? 

The  system  of  "revivals,  which  forms  so  important  a 
feature  of  your  Church,  without  doubt  contributes,  in  an  ex- 
traordinary degree,  to  increase  the  large  figure  of  members 
upon  which  you  pride  yourself.  But  as  religion  u  got"  under 
high  nervous  excitement  must,  by  the  well  known  laws  of 
physiology  and  of  psychology,  be  often  evanescent,  passing 
away  with  the  immediate  agency  which  produced  it,  leaving 
in  the  mind  of  the  convert  no  solid  "  reason  for  the  faith" 
that  was  in  him,  it  is  not  surprising  that  your  Church  counts 
up  so  largely  in  members,  since  it  counts  all  who  "  get  re- 
ligion ;"  and  I  doubt  not  if  you  will  enumerate  all  who  have 
been  "  converted"  and  are  "  backslidden"  to  the  world,  your 
1,319,171  would  be  doubled,  if  not  quadrupled  :  that  is,  you 
lose  more  than  you  gain.  This  fact  cannot  be  questioned,  I 
think,  by  any  who  are  familiar  with  the  history  and  statistics 
of  your  denomination.  But,  in  your  attack  upon  us,  you 
speak  of  our  "  few"  communicants,  as  given  in  our  statistics, 
viz.,  111,650  souls.*     Now,  my  brother,  if  you  would  make 

The  absurdity  of  arguing  in  defence  of  truth  and  right  by  numbers, 
is  strikingly  shown  in  the  following  extract  from  the  Report  of  Rev.  W.  H. 


NUMBER    NINE.  79 

out  a  tabic  of  statistics,  giving  only  those  who  habitually  at- 
tend "class  meetings,"  attendance  on  which  is,  among  good 
Methodists,  considered  the  true  test  of  spiritual  membership, 
T  am  sure  ice  need  not  hide  our  heads  !  I  have  reason  to 
know  that  in  towns  in  Mississippi  and  Tennessee,  and  other- 
wheres, that  the  class-meetings  are  attended  by  but  a  small 
fraction  of  each  Church  in  the  town.  I  can  name  one  that  I 
am  in  daily  cognizance  with,  where  the  "  professors"  are 
over  two  hundred,  but  of  whom  attend  the  "  class-meeting" 
but  two  or  three  pious  women,  and  one  devout  old  man  per- 
haps ;  and  this  habitually  from  week  to  week.  Now,  sir,  as 
your  class-meeting  is  the  touch-stone  of  sincere  Methodism, 
and  as  you  call  all  those  who  stay  away  from  class-meeting 
"  worldly,"  I  pray  you  which  Church  has  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  Christians  ?  Since  we  number  only  our  regular  com- 
municants ;  not  the  pew-holders,  who  have  not  been  con- 
firmed, and  do  not  commune,  though  they  may  have  been  bap- 
tized into  the  Church.  We  distinguish  them  as  the  con- 
gregation. 

Revise  your  figures,  my  brother,  and  give  me  the  number 
of  your  people  who  attend  class-meeting,  and  you  will  see 

Brett  to  the  Missionary  Society,  London.  Mr.  Brett  was  making  efforts 
to  convert  to  Christianity  the  Mohammedans  of  Guiana.     He  says  : — 

"  These  poor  people  were  so  ignorant,  that  they  asserted  that  Christ 
appeared  after  Mohammed.  On  my  correcting  their  chronology,  they  sent 
for  a  Koran  to  prove  that  they  were  right,  but  being  of  course  unable  to 
do  so,  became  very  angry  and  quarrelled  fiercely  with  each  other.  On  my 
entreaty  they  at  length  gave  over  the  dispute,  and  listened  to  such  an 
outline  of  Christian  religion  as  I  thought  they  could  best  understand.  The 
Resurrection  of  Jesus  evidently  gave  our  religion  an  advantage  over  that 
of  Mon.VMMED,  whose  body,  as  they  acknowledged,  still  lies  at  Medina. 
But  the  most  violent  Mussulman,  fearing  the  effects  of  this,  told  his  com- 
panions not  to  listen  to  a  religion,  whose  followers  (as  he  asserted)  were/ew 
compared  with  the  multitudes  of  believers  in  Mohammed  who  dwell  in 
India,  Bagdad,  Scham  (Damascus),  and  all  other  cities  of  the  East  ;  and 
finally  broke  up  tho  conference  by  declaring  that  I  should  be  cast  into  the 
third  hell." 

7* 


80  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

that  you  have  little  reason  to  take  the  triumphant  attitude 
you  have  done. 

Ah  !  this  is  an  unpleasant  task,  both  for  my  head  and  heart 
— this  recrimination — and  my  pen  loathes  the  duty  that  is 
forced  upon  it  in  defence  of  that  branch  of  Christ's  Church 
which  you  have  assailed.  I  would  gladly  refrain  and  keep 
back  from  making  one  charge ;  but  I  must  show  you  how  er- 
roneously you  reason,  and  how  unfairly  you  have  taken  ground 
against  us. 

In  corroboration  of  what  I  say,  I  will  quote  from  the  Nash- 
ville Advocate,  your  Church's  own  organ,  of  July  7  : — 

"  What  FAITH  is  to  our  system  of  doctrines,  CLASS  MEET 
ings  are  to  our  system  of  practice,  the  mainspring  of  the  whole 
movement." 

"  This,"  says  the  editor,  "  is  a  self-evident  and  important 
truth ;"  and  upon  it  he  remarks,  if  the  "  mainspring  of  the 
whole  movement  of  itinerant  Methodism  be  broken,  lost,  or 
weakened,  what  becomes  of  the  '  system  of  practice  V  Nay, 
what  becomes  of  a  distinctive  and  essential  feature  of  Method- 
ism?" The  " remark,"  of  "a  worthy  and  influential  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  south,"  seems 
strongly  to  indicate  danger. 

"  The  chief  cause  of  class-meeting  delinquencies  among  us 
lay  at  the  door  of  the  Ministry,  and  might  be  found  in  their 
neglect  of  pastoral  visitations,  and  of  not  attending  and  meet 
ing  the  class  occasionally  themselves-" 

Is  not  this  a  grave  charge  ?  "  It  surely  is  well-founded," 
continues  the  writer.  "  Neglect,"  of  "  meeting  the  classes," 
is  therefore  criminal  in  the  eye  of  the  Discipline.  "  More- 
over, it  has  a  tendency  to  weaken  or  destroy  the  force  of  the 
mainspring  of  the  whole  movement."  The  kind  and  chari- 
table editor,  "  at  first,  thought  of  dispelling  the  charge  as  un- 
founded ;  but  upon  reflection,  was  afraid  there  might  be  some 
truth  in  it."  Yes,  my  brother,  it  is  a  melancholy  fact,  that 
there  is  too  much  truth  in  it.     To  what  extent  this  fatal  and 


NUMBER   NINE.  81 

11  chief  cause  of  class-meeting  delinquencies"  may  "  lay  at  tho 
door  of  the  Ministry,"  I  am  not  prepared  to  say.  Occupy- 
ing a  superannuated,  and  consequently  a  limited  sphere  of 
action,  I  can  only  speak  what  I  know,  and  testify  what  I  have 
seen.  For  five  or  six  years  I  have  resided  in  the  midst  of  a 
large  and  respectable  society,  and  I  doubt  whether  that  class 
has  been  met  or  examined  in  the  usual  way,  by  a  traveling 
preacher,  during  that  time.  The  class  paper  is  rarely  seen, 
and  no  account  is  taken  of  delinquencies. 

"The  time  was,  when  disciplinary  rules  were  enforced,  allow- 
ing of  no  exempt  case — when  faithful  admonition  and  plain- 
dealing,  as  prescribed  in  the  Discipline,  and  even  in  the  Band 
Rules,  were  submitted  to,  and  scrupulously  regarded  by  tho 
preachers  and  members.  But  if  the  time  has  not  come  when 
they  will  not  endure  sound  doctrine,  the  time  has  come  when 
many,  very  many,  will  not  endure  sound  discipline.  Class 
meeting  and  week-day  preaching  are  almost  entirely  given  up 
in  this  country;  the  rules  on  dress,  and  other  rules,  are  a 
dead  letter — a  tendency  to  congregational  preaching,  in  place 
of  itinerancy,  prevails.  The  spirit  of  the  world — avarice, 
pride,  extravagance  in  dress,  and  gay  equipage — predominates ; 
and,  to  use  the  language  of  the  good  Fletcher,  '  The  lines  that 
divide  the  Lord's  vineyard  from  the  Devil's  commons/  are 
well  nigh  obliterated.  Is  there  not  a  cause  ?  Does  that  cause 
'lay  at  the  door  of  the  Ministry V  Let  none  cry  Croaker — 
to  heal  the  wound  slightly,  to  daub  with  untempered  mortar, 
to  cry  peace !  peace  !  when  there  was  no  peace,  was  long 
^  since  deemed  censurable." 

Such,  my  brother,  are  the  accounts  of  your  own  people,  of 
your  leading  men  in  the  Church,  and  they  prove  what  I  have 
advanced. 

If,  then,  Class  meetings  are  the  test  of  the  vital  piety  in 
the  Methodist  Church,  and  "  vital  piety,"  is  to  be  known  by 
figures,  I  would  not  shrink,  but  for  fear  of  God's  displeasure 
who  likes  not  "  numbering  his  people,"  to  go  to  work  with 


82  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

slate  and  pencil,  and  see  whether  the  Episcopalians  or  Metho- 
dists have  the  greatest  amount  of  piety. 

Your  ministers  are  also  taken  to  task  in  the  above  article 
for  not  visiting  their  people.  You  will  find  but  very  few 
Episcopalian  clergymen  amenable  to  this  charge.  Our  system 
is  peculiarly  one  of  clerical  visiting.  We  not  only  visit  our 
own  people,  but  we  visit  the  world's  sinners,  and  "  reason  with 
them  out  of  the  Scriptures,"  upon  the  necessity  of  repentance, 
faith  and  baptism,  "of  righteousness  and  the  judgment  to 
come/'  We  daily  seek  to  win  souls  to  Christ,  believing  and 
teaching  that  every  day  is  a  day  for  the  conversion  and  sal- 
vation of  men. 

On  the  other  hand,  your  system,  brother,  is  to  leave  the 
world  of  sin  to  settle  upon  its  lees,  until  the  annual  revival 
and  camp-meeting  seasons,  and  then  you  go  to  work  delibe- 
rately and  systematically  to  convert  souls.  This  season  is 
usually  in  the  time  of  harvest ;  and  you  so  follow  up  this 
plan  of  harvesting  in  souls  every  year,  that  it  is  become  a 
settled  article  of  faith  in  your  Church,  at  least  among  the 
masses  who  go  to  your  preaching,  that  there  can  be  no  "  get- 
ting religion,"  as  the  phrase  runs,  except  at  a  revival ;  and 
hence  there  prevails  at  all  other  times  an  habitual  indiffer- 
ence to  the  ordinary  ministrations  of  the  pulpit.  Sometimes, 
as  I  see  by  a  late  paper  printed  in  the  north  part  of  the 
State,  you  unite  a  barbecue  with  these  pentecostal  scenes,  in 
order  to  bring  together  the  surrounding  population — an  ad- 
junct probably  suggested,  I  charitably  hope,  by  the  miracu- 
lous feeding  of  the  five  thousand  who  came  far  to  hear  our 
Lord  preach  in  the  wilderness.  Here  is  the  advertisement 
to  which  I  allude.     I  give  it  you  to  reflect  upon  : — 


Public  Meeting. — The  citizens  of  Monroe  and  Lowndes  counties  are 
respectfully  invited  to  attend  a  Barbecue  to  be  given  at  the  New  Church, 
near  Vinton,  in  Lowndes  county,  on  the  16th  July  inst.,  at  which  time  and 
place  the  ceremonies  of  the  dedication  of  the  Church  will  take  place  by 
Bishop  R.  Paine,  at  half-past  10  o'clock,  A.  M.  Preaching  will  continue 
two  days,  and  full  attendance  is  solicited. 


NUMBER    NINE  83 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  record  here  what  has  often  been  re- 
marked, and  which  the  fact  clearly  bears  out,  that  the  numer- 
ous conversions  to  your  Church  have  chiefly  been  from  the 
humbler  and  less  educated  portion  of  the  community;  and  as 
these  constitute  the  great  mass  of  society,  hence  your  widely 
extended  influence.  Such  persons,  for  the  most  part,  "  em- 
brace Methodism,  not  from  investigation  of  evidence,"  not 
with  the  understanding  enlightened  by  reasoning  from  the 
Scriptures,  and  on  grounds  of  rational  conviction,  but  by  de- 
liberately giving  themselves  up  to  the  guidance  of  feeling 
and  imagination.  The  Episcopal  Church  is  mainly  made  up 
of  the  educated  classes,  who  join  it  by  admitting  the  evidences 
for  Christianity,  and  deliberately  choosing  what  appeals  to 
their  understanding  as  well  as  to  their  hearts.  Argumentative 
powers,  weighing  evidence,  appeals  to  the  reason  and  judg- 
ment, your  system  utterly  decries.  It  places  the  virtue  of 
Christian  faith  in  feeling,  rather  than  in  a  reasonable  convic- 
tion of  the  truth  of  the  Gospel.  Your  converts  are  led  by 
a  craving  for  excitement,  and  excitement  is  the  test  of  their 
possession  of  faith.  "  Preferring  what  affords  them  the  most 
scope  for  the  exercise  of  their  feelings,  and  the  gratification 
of  their  fancy,  they  find  the  Methodist  Church  the  one  which 
best  affords  them  all  that  they  can  desire." 

This  last  quotation  I  have  taken  from  a  recent  "  Charge  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,"  which  I  find  extracted  into 
"  The  New  York  Church  Journal,"  July  7th,  of  the  present 
year,  referring  to  converts  to  the  Roman  communion  \  but  I 
have  taken  the  liberty  only  to  change  the  words  "  Church  of 
Rome,"  in  the  last  line  but  one,  to  "  Methodist  Church." 

If  then  the  same  mental  condition  in  converts  is  a  feature 
in  both  Churches,  how  very  near  Rome  (reasoning,  of  course, 
as  I  have  all  along  done,  with  your  own  arguments,)  your 
Church  is,  my  brother. 

And  I  may  here,  in  passing,  introduce  another  extract 
taken  from  the  remarks  of  "  The  New  York  Daily  Times," 


84  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

upon  the  Bill  called  the  "  Catholic  Trust  Bill/'  lately  intro- 
duced into  the  New  York  Senate. 

"  This  Bill  proposes,"  says  the  editor,  "  by  the  formal 
act  of  the  people  of  this  State,  to  invest  the  Archbishop  of 
the  diocese  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  with  all  the  pro- 
perty belonging  to  the  body ;  not  only  the  colleges,  theologi- 
cal seminaries,  schools,  convents,  and  nunneries,  which  may 
be  considered  its  public  property,  but  also  the  particular 
property  of  every  individual  congregation  of  that  body  will, 
should  this  Law  be  passed,  become  vested  in  the  person  of 
the  Bishop;  and  that,  too,  whether  the  people  so  elect  or  not. 
There  is  nothing  like  this  in  any  Protestant  body,  that  wc 
know  of,  unless  it  be  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  where 
the  Conference  sometimes  assumes  the  position  which  this 
Bill  assigns  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop." 

It  is  with  great  reluctance  that  I  resort,  in  exposing  your 
principles  of  reasoning,  to  so  unamiable  a  process  as  you  have 
forced  upon  me.  I  do  it  not  out  of  malice  or  revenge,  far 
from  it,  and  gladly  would  I  be  silent,  or  only  praise ;  but  I 
desire  to  show  you  how  morally  wrong  it  is  for  you  to  adopt 
against  us  the  mode  of  argument  you  have  pursued,  and  to 
render  manifest  to  those  who  may  be  our  readers  that  your 
reasoning  is  of  no  force  toward  proving  what  you  seem  to 
aim  at,  unless  you  admit  that  the  same  mode  of  reasoning, 
of  necessity,  establishes  the  same  thing  of  yourselves,  which, 
I  think,  I  have  sufficiently  shown  to  be  the  case. 

As  I  am  not  writing  a  full  answer  to  your  book,  brother, 
but  merely  reviewing  it,  I  have  not  touched  upon  all  your  ob- 
jections, although  I  have  considered  the  chief  arguments 
which  I  find  in  it.  I  shall  therefore  conclude  this  pamphlet 
by  noticing  a  few  miscellaneous  subjects  which  you  mention, 
and  by  making  a  few  remarks  upon  the  doctrines  of  the  book 
at  large. 

You  say  we  do  not  preach  the  gospel.  This  assertion  I 
deny,   with   indignation.     It   reminds    me  of  a   Methodist 


NUMBER   NINE.  85 

Minister,  who  said  we  did  not  read  the  Bible  to  our  people. 
And  when  he  was  convinced  that  we  read  Holy  Scripture  five 
times  in  the  morning  service,  and  three  times  in  the  evening 
service,  eight  times  a  day,  he  was  confounded ;  and  of  course 
could  only  plead  his  ignorance  of  what  we  did.*  And  not  long 
since  I  was  asked  by  the  head  of  a  Methodist  family,  "  If 
the  Episcopalians  believed  in  the  Trinity  V  In  reply,  I 
showed  him,  in  the  Prayer  Book,  that  we  asserted  our  faith 
therein  in  Morning  Prayers — not  only  once  in  the  creed,  but 
that  four  times  the  ascription  to  the  glory  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  was  interwoven  with  our  sublime  and 
holy  service ;  and  in  the  afternoon,  four  times,  making  nine 
public  and  vocal  confessions  of  the  Trinity  on  each  Sunday. 
And  yet  we  do  not  believe  in  the  Trinity?  And  yet  we 
do  not  read  the  Bible  1  Sir,  I  doubt  not  that  there  is  more 
Holy  Scripture  read  in  our  Churches  on  one  Sunday,  than  in 
all  your  Churches  put  together  in  four. 

Of  similar  value  is  your  gratuitous  and  uncharitable  asser- 
tion, that  "  we  do  not  preach  the  Gospel."  I  place  it  there- 
fore with  them,  and  there  and  upon  your  conscience  leave  it. 

You  say  that  there  were  never  so  many  Bishops  as  600  in 
the  Christian  world  at  one  time;  and  that  therefore  the 
Bishops  of  the  Nicene  and  Chalcedon  councils  were  simply 
Presbyters.  This  assertion  simply  shows  that  you  have  not 
diligently  read  history,  and  made  yourself  acquainted  with 
the  social  and  political  features  at  that  period  of  Europe, 
"Western  Asia,  and  Northern  Africa,  whence  those  Bishops 
came.  I  cannot  argue  against  involuntary  ignorance,  but 
simply  direct  you  to  the  usual  scholastic  sources  of  Ecclesi- 
astical history ;  reminding  you,  however,  that  you  will  not 
probably  find  all  the  works  that  would  give  you  information 

•  The  Prayer  Book  so  arranges  the  reading  of  Scripture  in  the  public 
services  of  the  Church,  that  the  Old  Testament  is  read  through,  in  daily 
service,  once,  the  Now  Testament  three  times,  and  the  Psalms  of  David 
twelve  times  a  year. 


86  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

rendered  into  an  English  dress.  The  works  most  valuable 
to  scholars,  you  are  aware,  remain  untranslated.  There  are 
Bishops  enough  existing  to-day  in  the  several  branches  of  the 
Christian  Catholic  Church,  not  counting  the  Roman  Bishops, 
to  out  number  either  of  those  councils. 

You  boast  in  the  numbers  of  your  clergy,  and  mock  at  our 
"  few."  But  you  are  pleased  to  overlook  what  among  us  is 
a  condition  of  the  clerical  office,  besides  u  piety  and  aptness 
to  teach,"  viz. :  that  our  clergy  have  to  go  through  a  severe 
course  of  theological  study;  while  yours,  like  Joseph  Wolff, 
are  often  fitted,  sur  le  champ,  for  the  field  by  the  call  of  an 
inward  voice;  and  this  "  voice"  coming  to  the  smith  at  his 
anvil,  the  joiner  at  his  bench,  the  plowman  at  mid-furrow,  or 
the  clerk  at  his  desk,  is  incontinently  obeyed;  and  hundreds 
of  men  are  set  to  work  in  your  itineracy,  who,  but  a  few 
weeks  before  they  were  licensed,  were  at  work  in  some  re- 
spectable trade.  The  trade  is  nought  against  them ;  but  that 
it  should  be  deemed  necessary  for  them  to  learn  by  years  of 
toil  some  handicraft,  but  require  no  preparation  for  the  minis- 
try, is  what  I  object  to. 

" Poeta  nascitur,  non fit"  you  thereby  convert  into 

"Methodist  minister  nascitur,  non  fit." 

I  am  aware  it  is  a  part  of  your  Ecclesiastical  creed,  that 
scholastic  learning  is  not  necessary  for  a  minister  "  inspired 
to  preach  by  an  inward  call."  How  much  ignorance,  will 
you  answer  me,  does  your  system  require  to  make  a  preacher 
of  the  highest  character  ? 

It  is  because  you  require  comparatively  no  previous  study, 
that  you  can  crowd  your  ministry  as  you  do,  and  number  your 
thousands. 

I  might,  were  it  not  savoring  of  uncharitableness,  remind 
you  here  of  the  Four  Hundred  Priests  of  Baal  against  Elijah, 
the  single  servant  of  the  most  High  God,  since  you  have  faith 
in  the  proponderancy  of  figures. 

But,  sir,  shall  the  Church  obey  the  people  f   Shall  the  ira- 


NUMBER   NINE.  87 

pious  adage,  vox  Populi,  vox  Dei,  be  inscribed  on  the  banner 
of  Him  who  was  crucified  by  a  mob  of  the  people?  the  victim 
of  a  majority  ? 

If,  in  altered  tones,  the  people,  who  would  have  sacrificed  to 
Paul  and  Barnabas,  have  proclaimed  Baal,  shall  Baal  be  God? 
shall  Paul  and  Barnabas  be  gods  ? 

•  Hark  !  Baal's  praiso  resounds  from  countless  choirs, 

See  gladdening  nations  hail  his  festal  day, 
While  round  the  Lord's  high  shrine,  the  Levites'  fires, 

Some  seven  poor  thousands  with  Elijah  stay  ! 
But  who  shall  judge  a  people  f    Who  deny 

The  'people's' privilege  to  choose  their  God? 
Speak  ye  of  right  ?     What  right  in  reason's  eye 

Outweighs  the  sanction  of  a  nation's  nod, 
Whether  they  how  to  Baal,  or  how  to  God ! 
The  'voice  of  many'  is  the  '  voice  of  God.'  " 

This  brief  quotation  answers  all  your  arguments  as  to  the 
the  virtue  of  numbers  in  ascertaining  where  truth  dwells. 

But,  as  I  have  just  remarked,  the  severe  course  of  study 
bars  many  of  the  indolent  and  insincere  from  entering  the 
ministry  of  the  Church.  Three  years  hard  study,  and  four 
rigorous  examinations  by  Bishops  and  clergymen,  appointed 
for  the  purpose,  and  the  necessity  of  having  a  knowledge 
(only  with  extraordinary  exceptions)  of  the  languages  in 
which  the  original  Scriptures  were  written.  But  for  this 
learning  in  our  Church,  but  for  this  scholarly  preparation, 
which  you  affect  to  despise,  and  which  keeps  the  number  of 
our  clergy  less  than  the  great  needs  of  the  Church  demand, 
(for  men,  and  these  are  the  few,  must  be  in  earnest  for 
Christ  to  labor  so  hard  at  preparation  for  his  work,)  but  for 
this  learning,  which  you  deride,  you  would  have  had  no  Bible 
in  your  Church,  unless  you  used  the  Greek  or  Boman  Vul- 
gate, and  you  know  Paul  forbids  using  "  other  tongues  than 
one's  own  in  God's  house.  To  the  learning  of  forty-eight 
English  Bishops  and  clergymen,  "  Ecclesiastical  tyrants  and 
8 


88  PAMPHLETS    FOR    THS   PEOPLE. 

coxcombs/'  as  you  term  them,  you  and  your  people  owe  the 
Gospel  of  your  salvation.  You  took  it  with  you  from  the 
English  Church,  with  a  great  part  of  the  Prayer  Book,  when 
you  withdrew  yourselves  to  set  up  your  purer  faith  !  Now, 
sir,  as  the  Church  of  the  Succession  gave  you  your  Bible,  so 
it  offers  to  you,  but  you  reject  it,  the  Succession.  Now,  if 
you  can  take  our  translation  of  the  Bible,  and  the  sacraments, 
and  Mr.  Wesley's  orders  from  the  Church,  why  not  the  Suc- 
cession. The  Church's  authority  is  as  good  for  the  one  as 
the  other !  Moreover,  who  gave  you  authority  to  substitute 
the  First  day  of  the  week  for  the  Seventh  day,  as  God's  Sab- 
bath? You  have  no  authority  for  it  in  Scripture.  It  was 
the  Church  which  has  transmitted  it  from  age  to  age  with  the 
Apostolical  Succession.  Both  institutions  stand  on  the  same 
evidence,  and  have  the  same  authority. 

If  we  would  lessen  the  lingual  and  educational  requisitions 
for  orders  in  our  ministry,  we,  also,  might  be  crowded  with 
preachers  of  the  cross,  "men  full  of  zeal,  but  void  of  under- 
standing." 

Yours,  fraternally, 

Justus. 


rAMPHLETS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


NUMBER    TEN. 

ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.  R.  ABBEY,  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

You  allude  to  Mr.  Wesley  frequently  as  authority. 
Mr.  Wesley,  sir,  is  not  the  author  of,  nor  responsible  for,  the 
American  Methodist  Church,  as  I  shall  show  you  in  a  sequel 
to  this  review.  He  had  nothing  to  do  with  its  organization  ; 
but  repudiated  it  in  his  last  hours  ;  and  died  in  the  full  com- 
munion of  tlie  Episcopal  Church  !  I  italicise,  not  for  your 
information,  but  for  that  of  others  of  your  communion  who 
may  read  what  I  am  writing,  and  who,  like  a  great  many  of 
the  uninformed  Methodists,  are  especially  ignorant  of  this 
one  fact,  viz. :  that  Mr.  Wesley  was  ever  in  the  Church — 
nay,  blissfully  know  nothing  of  the  origin  of  their  Church. 
It  is  proper,  since  you  have  given  motion  to  the  ball,  that  it 
should  roll  on  awhile,  and  let  the  people  see  all  sides  of  it, 
and  where  the  moss  grows  upon  it.  Strong  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  complete  defensibility  of  her  position,  the  Church 
fears  not  investigation,  (though  she  loves  not  detraction  and 
false  witness  borne  against  her,)  nor  does  she  fear,  when  once 
drawing  the  sword,  to  parry  blows  aimed  at  her  bosom — to 
thrust,  if  need  be,  for  her  safety  and  honor. 

We  love  not  to  attack.  The  Clergyman  of  the  Church 
does  not  think  it  necessary  u  to  analyze  every  system  of  dis- 
sent," and  expose  every  defect  of  schismatics;  he  seeks  to 
put  the  system  of  the  Church  on  true  foundations ;  to  unfold 
its  established  principles  ;  to  show  the  general   application  of 

(89) 


90  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

its  doctrines  to  convert  and  reform  men — well  knowing,  that 
if  they  are  thoroughly  grounded  in  the  elements  of  her  faith 
and  discipline,  they  will  abhor  every  false  system,  and  guard 
against  every  irregular  teacher.  He  will  resist  error,  not  so 
much  by  attacking  it,  "  as  by  a  fearless  presentation  of  the 
truth."  But  when  the  Church  of  his  love  is  attacked  in  the 
manner  presented  to  the  world  by  your  book,  when  taking 
advantage  of  your  superior  learning,  reading,  and  talents, 
compared  with  your  own  peoples',  you  teach  them  that  the 
Episcopal  Church  is  "  an  imposition  and  a  fraud/'*  and  un- 
worthy of  the  confidence  of  honest  men,  it  is  time  he  should 
point  out  to  your  people  the  beam  in  your  own  eye.  A 
simple  history  of  your  origin  is  all  the  ease  requires,  and  all 
it  will  receive.  Your  people  shall  learn  what  the  Methodist 
communion  really  owes  to  the  Church  you  have  defamed, 
and  how  uncalled-for  and  unjust  your  matricidal  attack  is 
upon  her.  They  can  investigate  evidence,  and  weigh  testi- 
mony, and  exercise  judgment  upon  facts  as  well  as  their 
preachers. 

It  is  true,  by  denying  your  laity  a  voice  in  your  councils, 
you  ignore  their  intelligence — ignore  them  as  an  integral  part 
of  the  Body  and  Church  of  Christ,  and  treat  them  with 
priestly  contempt.  Herein  you  again  follow  the  Roman 
Catholics,  who,  in  their  councils,  or  conferences,  exclude  all 
but  the  priesthood.  So  your  conferences,  in  excluding  all 
but  the  priesthood,  affiliate  closely  with  Romanism.  Ah,  my 
brother,  you  ought  not  to  have  said  "  Rome"  to  us,  you  per- 
ceive. I  can  write  a  book,  proving  Methodism  and  Rome  to 
be  the  long  celebrated  extremes  tliat  meet,  far  more  plausible 
in  its  deductions  than  yours,  and  more  honestly  argued  from 
facts.  But  I  do  not  wish  to  attack.  I  take  up  my  pen  only 
to  defend,  and  guard  the  truth. 

Now  I  come  to  "  the  chief  grief  of  your  book,  and  which 

*  See  "W.  S.  Grayson's  book  against  the  Succession,  pp.  100,  note. 


NUMBER  TEN.  91 

seems  to  give  you  all  aloDg  the  most  trouble,  arid  this  is,  that 
the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Green,  of  Mississippi,  at  whom  you 
level  your  eighteen  epistles,  (ah,  how  vnlikc  those  of  the 
apostles,)  should  presume  to  maintain  this  succession  u  apos- 
tolic," which  entitles  your  pamphlet,  as  personal  in  himself. 

We  are  told,  that  "  it  is  distance  lends  enchantment  to  the 
view."  It  is  recent  proximity  to  a  "mitred  prelate,"  who  is 
11  almost  your  neighbor,"  that  has,  doubtless,  given  you  such 
a  holy  horror  of  the  succession,  which,  when  at  a  distance, 
did  not  cast  so  evidently  the  shadow  of  its  mitre  upon  your 
path.  Now,  like  Diogenes,  you  tell  the  Bishop  not  to  stand 
between  you  and  the  sun  ;  or  as  Mr.  Shakespere,  the  player, 
says,  u  between  the  wind  and  your  nobility." 

I  am  inclined  to  surmise,  my  brother,  that  half  a  scruple 
of  envy  at  not  being  able  to  be  a  bishop  yourself  also,  or 
without  prospect  of  being  one,  (for  you  are  an  ambitious 
man,)  unless  your  book  obtain  you  "  the  honor,"  has  led  you 
to  write  your  eighteen  epistles.  Certainly  there  is  nothing 
in  your  antecedents  that  can  have  so  warmly  raised  your 
ire  against  mitres,  nor  in  the  personal  character  of  the  Bishop 
of  Mississippi,  whom  you  justly  term  "a  gentleman  of  dis- 
tinguished learning,  talents,  character,  and  abilities."  You 
even  in  the  preface,  very  inconsistently,  however,  with  the 
spirit  of  your  whole  book  afterward,  give  him  credit  for  ex- 
emplary piety  and  zealous  labors  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel; 
though  you  qualify  this  praise  afterward  by  defining,  what 
you  consider  to  be,  the  Gospel  which  he  preaches,  viz. : 
11  that  the  Methodist  Church  is  the  daughter,  and  that  tho 
Episcopal  Church  is  the  mother." 

If  the  Bishop's  "gospel"  be  always  as  true  as  this,  I  do 
not  think  that  he  can  be  very  far  from  preaching  evangelical 
truth.  But  this  is  no  place,  nor  have  I  time,  in  this  mere 
review  of  your  book,  written  during  a  week  that  both  fore- 
noon and  afternoon  called  me  to  duties  that  have  kept  me 
for  hours  from  my  pen,  to  discuss  this  relationship,  and  to 
8* 


92  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

prove  that  you  are  not  only  the  daughter,  but  a  very  un- 
filial  and  indiscreet  one,  to  defame  your  maternity  as  you 
do ;  knowing,  as  you  ought  to  know,  that  the  hard  names  a 
child  calls  its  parent  usually  rebound  against  the  child.  If 
the  mother  is  unclean,  so  is  the  daughter ;  for,  saith  the 
Scripture,  "who  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  an  unclean." 
This  relationship,  so  far  as  I  can  advance  the  knowledge  of 
it,  I  mean  the  world  shall  be  fully  convinced  of,  that  they 
may  see  how,  at  every  blow  you  strike  at  her  moral  charac- 
ter and  integrity  of  orders,  you  and  your  Church  share  in 
the  results.  It  is,  perhaps,  a  providential  thing,  after  all, 
that  you  have  written  '*  the  book,"  as  this  matter  will  now 
be  likely  to  be  set  right ;  not  only  before  your  own  people, 
but  of  your  brethren  of  the  numerical  triangle,  the  Pres- 
byterian and  Baj)tist  communions. 

But  to  the  particular  subject  of  the  Bishop  of  Mississippi's 
apostolic  authority  through  orders.  You  have  denied  that 
there  is  any  such  thing  as  hereditary  orders ;  while,  in  meet- 
ing your  assertions  and  arguments,  I  have  shown  that,  if 
there  be  not,  there  ought  to  be,  for  the  honor  of  Christ's 
word  of  promise,  and  for  the  unity  of  "  the  one  Lord,  one 
faith,  one  baptism,"  and  for  the  unquestionable  conveyance  of 
the  sacraments  tactually  from  Christ  to  you  and  me.  If  there 
were  no  need  of  touch  to  originate  the  conveyance,  then  why 
did  Christ  take  into  his  hands  the  bread,  and  break  it,  and 
manually  give  it  to  his  disciples  ?  Why  not  tell  them  to 
take  it,  and  eat  it  from  the  table  or  dish  ?  But  I  have 
already  discussed  this  question,  and  shown  that  the  integrity, 
oneness,  unity,  continuity,  self-sameness,  and  identity  of  the 
Church  of  to-day  with  the  Church  Apostolic  depends  upon 
the  unbroken,  tactual  transmission  of  the  sacraments,  through 
a  continuous  inheritance  (priests  from  Bishops,  as  Timothy 
from  Paul)  of  "  orders." 

Now  if  there  be  no  apostolic  line  traceable,  then  none  ex* 
ists.    If  none  esistj  then  it  is  an  imposition  and  deception  to 


NUMBER   TEN.  93 

assert  and  teach  the  doctrine.  If  none  exist,  there  is  no 
one  man  on  earth  who  has  any  more  authority  to  baptize  and 
administer  the  holy  communion,  confirm,  and  preach,  than 
any  other  man.  Hence  there  is  no  exclusive  and  particular 
Christian  ministry  set  apart  by  God,  chosen  from  among 
men.  In  this  issue,  where  then  is  the  source  whence 
authority  to  baptize  or  to  preach  is  to  come  ?  Do  you  say 
from  Keverend  John  Wesley,  Dr.  Coke,  and  Mr.  Asbury  ? 
for  these  evidently  constitute  and  are  the  foundation  head  of 
your  "  orders  ?"  But  I  know  you  do  not  stop  here;  but  you 
defend  the  validity  of  the  orders  of  Dr.  Coke,  and  of  Mr. 
Wesley,  and  assert  that,  as  presbyters,  they  had  authority  to 
ordain. 

Now,  if  there  be  no  succession,  what  is  authority  ?  Where 
is  it  ?  Whence  ?  You  have  just  as  much  right  to  ordain 
yourself  as  to  be  ordained  of  another  man ;  nay,  a  woman 
may  ordain  you !  But  if  you  will  not  allow  this,  then  you 
admit  some  authority  for  orders  to  be  necessary.  Wesley, 
therefore,  must  have  had  authority  to  lay  his  hands  upon 
Dr.  Coke  and  his  brethren.  If  he  had  not,  then  there  is 
confessedly  no  authority  necessary  for  your  orders,  and  Dr. 
Coke  might  as  well  have  ordained  himself.  Either  therefore 
you  must  admit  that  men  can  take  this  office  upon  them- 
selves, underived,  or  that  there  is  a  derivable  source  from 
whence  it  originally  flows.  Question,  then,  Mr.  Wesley,  and 
demand,  touching  his  supreme  acts  ecclesiastic,  "  By  what 
authority  doest  thou  these  things,  and  who  gave  thee  this 
authority  V*  He  will  say,  "  My  Bishop,  who  ordained  me  a 
presbyter."  And  his  Bishop,  if  questioned,  will  refer  to  his 
predecessors  in  an  unbroken  continuity  to  Augustine,  the 
first  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  was  consecrated  at 
Aries,  France,  by  the  Bishops  of  Lyons  and  of  Aries,  both 
being  Gallic,  and  not  Roman  Bishops.  Question  the  Bishop 
of  Lyons  and  him  of  Aries,  and  demand  their  authority  to 
consecrate  a  Bishop  for  Canterbury,  in  England,  and  they 


94  PAMPHLETS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

will  point  to  the  line  of  their  predecessors  up  to  Ireneus, 
Bishop  of  Lyons,  who;  they  will  tell  you,  was  placed  in  that 
see  by  Polycarp's  personal  consecration;  and  that  Polycarp's 
consecration  was  given  by  the  hands  of  St.  John,  the  apostle 
of  our  blessed  Lord. 

Hence,  Mr.  Wesley  either  claimed  no  authority  whatever 
to  do  what  he  did,  or  grounded  his  authority  "  to  do  those 
things"  upon  the  hereditary  Apostolic  Succession  of  authority. 
If,  therefore,  you,  my  brother,  have  any  right  to  preach  and 
baptize,  you  derive  this  right  through  Mr.  "Wesley,  from  Dr. 
Coke,  and  Mr.  Asbury,  and  owe  the  validity  of  your  ministerial 
acts  to  the  virtue  in  the  Apostolic  Succession ;  and,  "if  there  be 
no  virtue  in  it,  and  no  such  Succession,  then,  sir,  you  nor  no 
other  man  can  have  any  lawful  authority  to  preach.  If, 
therefore,  you  impugn  the  hereditary  Apostolical  Orders  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  you  repudiate,  as  I  have  already  before 
argued,  your  own  ;  and  therefore  have  no  right  to  proclaim 
pardon  to  sinners  on  repentance,  promise  them  heaven  on 
faith  and  obedience,  threaten  them  with  hell,  baptize  them 
into  Christ's  body,  his  Church,  and  taking  bread  and  wine, 
call  it  authoritatively  the  "body  and  blood  of  Christ." 
These  awful  and  responsible  acts  you  have  no  right  to  do, 
no  more  lawful  right  than  your  infant  child  has,  without  the 
Succession.  Therefore  you  "hold  not  the  Head  from  which 
all  the  body  by  joints  and  bands,  having  nourishment  minis- 
tered and  knit  together,"  increaseth  with  the  increase  of  God. 

A  Church  without  succession  is  not  a  body  " holding  to 
the  Head,"  and  knit  together;  but,  like  a  dismembered  trunk, 
its  limbs  are  scattered  over  the  earth,  without  "bands  and  with- 
out having  nourishment."  It  is  like  a  branch  lopped  from 
the  tree,  which,  after  a  while,  not  holding  the  root,  perishes. 

But  you,  not  wishing  to  give  up  all  authority,  urge  that 
you  do  believe  in  the  Succession  by  Presbyters,  but  not  by 
Bishops.  But  I  have  before  argued  this  subject  with  you, 
showing  you  that  as  the  Order  of  Presbyters  derived  from 


NUMBER   TEN.  95 

that  of  Bishops,  at  least,  usually,  if  you  insist  on  the  quali- 
fication, so  the  corruptions  of  the  Episcopate  must  be  conveyed 
to  the  Presbytery  j  for,  as  already  quoted  in  another  place, 
"a  clean  thing  cannot  come  out  of  an  unclean/' 

You  must  therefore  either  admit  the  integrity  of  the  Epis- 
copate, or  you  destroy  the  valid  succession  of  the  inferior 
orders. 

Yours,  fraternally, 

Justus. 


PAMPHLETS  FOll  THE  PEOPLE. 


NUMBER  ELEVEN. 


ADDRES9ED  TO  THE  REV.  R.  ABBEY,   OF   THE   METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

You  will  doubtless  have  demurred  at  the  smooth  way 
in  which,  in  my  last  Pamphlet,  I  have  given  Mr.  Wesley  an 
Apostolical  ride  up  the  hill  of  Succession  to  the  very  doors  of 
the  Episcopal  palace  of  St.  John.  But  there  is  no  historical 
lineage,  royal  or  priestly,  more  clearly  established  than  that 
of  the  Episcopate  of  Lyons  through  St.  John,  and  the  Angli- 
can through  that  of  Lyons.  That  see  remained  in  hereditary 
integrity  until  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  as  it 
does  moreover  to  this  day,  though  acknowledging,  at  present, 
unwilling  allegiance  to  the  Koman  pontiff.  But  at  the  time 
of  which  I  speak,  the  Gallic  Church  was  one  of  the  purest  and 
most  evangelical  Churches  on  earth;  with  a  ministry  of  indis- 
putable Apostolic  descent. 

At  this  period  Augustine,  a  priest  of  the  Church  in  Italy, 
being  in  England,  was  directed  by  Pope  Gregory  to  open 
negotiations  with  the  ancient  British  Church,  there  to  secure, 
if  possible,  its  consent  to  the  Papal  usurpation ;  for  Home  was 
then  beginning  to  annex  the  Sees  of  Christendom  to  its  ec- 
cfesms^'co-imperial  throne  by  persuasion,  by  bribery,  and  by 
force  lent  by  the  Roman  spears. 

You,  perhaps,  know,  for  it  has  been  translated  from  the 
Latin,  the  eloquent  response  of  that  Apostolic  Church  to  the 
demands  of  Rome.     "  We  acknowledge  the  Bishop  of  Rome 

(97) 


98  PAMPHLETS   FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

as  a  Christian  brother,  but  we  owe  allegiance  to  no  supreme 
head  but  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. " 

This  ancient  Church,  for  its  firmness  against  aggression, 
was  finally  nearly  crushed  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  who, 
making  use  of  their  conqueror,  the  Saxon  Ethelbert's  arms, 
slew  twelve  hundred  of  her  priests.  Her  Bishops  fled,  but 
not  annihilated,  from  the  two-fold  war  against  them  of  the 
Saxon  and  of  the  crucifix,  and  the  Pope  completed  his  tri- 
umph by  usurping  and  conferring  the  authority  of  the  British 
Church  upon  Augustine.  But  as  this  man  was  only  a  priest 
in  rank,  and  therefore  could  have  no  authority  to  oversee  and 
govern  a  Church,  not  even  a  superintendent,  he  went  to  Aries, 
in  Gaul,  there  to  receive  Episcopal  consecration.  Hence,  the 
consecration  of  Augustine  as  first  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in 
England,  was  not  by  Romish  hands,  but  by  Gallic;  not 
through  the  Episcopate  of  St.  Peter,  but  that  of  St.  John. 

The  fact  that  Augustine  was  an  Italian  Presbyter  does  not 
touch  his  orders  Episcopalic,  nor  affect  them  in  the  least,  as 
you  must  clearly  perceive.  What,  as  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, was  he  officially  to  convey  ?  The  Episcopate  alone — 
the  governing  power — the  Apostolical  succession  of  hereditary 
authority  !  As  a  priest  he  could  baptize,  consecrate  the  bread 
and  wine,  and  preach.  As  a  Bishop  his  office  is,  with  the  aid 
of  the  two  Gallic  Bishops,  to  consecrate  the  first  English 
Bishops,  his  cotemporaries  and  successors.  The  Episcopate, 
therefore,  the  Apostolical  succession  of  English  Bishops  comes 
not  to  the  Anglican  Church  through  Rome,  but  through 
Gaul. 

Afterward  history  clearly  shows  us  that  certain  Romish 
Bishops,  forced  upon  the  British  Church  and  elevated  to  its  Sees 
by  the  Pope,  assisted  at  the  consecration  of  English  Bishops; 
but  the  original  thread  of  succession  leading  from  Augustine 
to  the  Gallic  Bishops  could  not  thereby  be  invalidated,  broken, 
or  annihilated ;  as  of  necessity  it  must  continue,  though  inter- 
woven with  Romish.    But  if  you  except  at  all  to  the  Presby- 


NUMBER   ELEVEN.  99 

terian  Orders  of  Augustine  in  the  Piomish  Church,  as  existing 
prior  to  his  consecration  at  Aries,  certainly  the  line  of  the 
two  Gallic  Bishops,  which  never  intermingled  with  Home, 
and  who  assisted  Augustine  in  his  subsequent  consecrations, 
must  continue.  No  number  of  subsequent  consecration?,  aided 
by  Romish  hands,  could  kill  the  virtue  in  the  Apostolic  line 
coming  through  St.  John.  Suppose,  as  you  are  fond  of  sup- 
positions, that  when  you  were  ordained  by  the  laying  on  of 
hands  of  your  Bishop  and  brethren,  an  Episcopal  clergyman 
(invited  by  courtesy)  had  also  put  his  Apostolic  hand  upon 
your  head  with  those  of  the  brethren,  would  this  intermixture 
of  orders  have  made  you  an  Episcopal  clergyman  ?  Or  sup- 
pose when  three  Romish  Bishops  consecrate  a  priest  to  elevate 
him  to  the  Episcopate,  an  Anglican  Bishop  should  add  his 
hands  to  the  three,  would  not  he  virtue  of  his  consecration  be 
as  much  given  as  that  of  the  others ;  and  would  it  not  flow 
on  through  centuries,  "pari  parribus"  with  theirs;  and  be 
conveyed  to  all  who  were  successively  consecrated;  and  as 
really  and  positively  so,  as  if  there  were  no  other  lines  in- 
termingling ? 

In  the  same  way,  and  for  the  same  reason,  do  the  orders 
of  the  English  Church  flow  through  St.  John's  hand  from 
Christ's;  and  if  one  of  the  streams  be  tainted,  yet  she  knows 
that  she  derives  through  the  purer  one  all,  as  if  the  others 
were  not ! 

The  Bishop  of  Mississippi  therefore  traces  his  Episcopal 
authority  to  St.  John,  as  he  has  clearly  asserted  and  shown 
in  the  Appendix  to  his  Sermon.  Consecrated  by  four  Ame- 
rican Bishops,  who  were  consecrated  by  Bishop  White,  or  by 
those  whom  that  venerable  primate  of  the  American  Anglican 
Church  consecrated,  he  received  lawful  authority  to  ordain 
the  candidate  for  priestly  orders  on  the  occassion  when  he 
preached  the  sermon  which  you  have  made  the  casus  belli 
against  the  Episcopal  Church.  That  gentleman  was  therefore 
lawfully  ordained  by  the  Bishop  there,  and  then,  or  he  was 
0 


100  PAMPHLETS    FOR  THE    PEOPLE. 

not.  If  he  is  lawfully  and  validly  ordained,  he  is  so  because 
the  Bishop  of  Mississippi,  who  gave  him  "  Orders/'  had 
authority  to  do  so.  These  are  the  words  in  which  our  Bishops 
confer  ministerial  authority,  their  hands  laid  upon  the  can- 
didate's head  : — 

"  Take  thou  authority  to  execute  the  office  of  a  Priest 
in  the  Church  of  God,  now  committed  to  thee  by  the  imposi- 
tion of  our  hands ;  and  be  thou  a  faithful  dispenser  of  the 
word  of  God  and  of  his  holy  Sacraments ;  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.    Amen." 

Now,  either  the  Bishop  had  authority  to  do  this,  as  I  have 
before  said,  or  he  had  not,  If  he  had  not,  then  he  conveyed 
none  to  the  candidate;  and  the  latter  has  no  more  authority 
to  minister  at  God's  altar  than  he  had  before,  nor  is  any 
minister  in  the  Church  a  whit  better  situated.  If  I  did  not 
believe  that  the  Bishop,  who  ordained  me  to  preach  and 
baptize,  had  really  authority  successively  derived  from  the 
"Head,"  through  the  members  " knit  together/'  by  a  chain 
of  succession,  "  coming  down  from  God,"  conveying  his  au- 
thority, I  would,  from  this  day,  cease  to  preach,  and  wholly 
abandon  the  sacred  office,  "which  no  man  taketh  upon  him- 
self," but  he  that  is  called  of  God,  as  was  Aaron  and  his 
Levitical  succession.  Though  I  took  not  my  orders  and 
authority,  indeed,  upon  myself,  after  the  manner  Napoleon 
placed  the  iron  crown  upon  his  own  head,  yet,  if  I  receive 
orders  from  one  who  took  it  upon  himself,  or  who  received  it 
from  some  other  more  remotely,  who  took  it  upon  himself,  I 
am  not  the  less  unauthorized  to  preach  and  baptize;  for, 
ultimately,  my  orders  will  be  traced  to  self-institution  in  their 
origin,  be  it  in  this  century  or  the  last,  in  the  "dark  ages," 
or  in  the  age  after  the  Apostles.  If  I  cannot  connect  the 
parts  "knit  together,"  of  ministerial  authority,  with  Christ, 
who  "  came  not  of  himself,  but  was  sent  by  the  Father,"  I 
have  no  lawful  right  to  declare,  as  Christ's  ambassador,  for- 
giveness of  sins  to  men,  and  with  all  authority  to  exhort  and 


NUMBEB    r.I.r.YKV  101 

rebuke.  It  is  my  undoubted  confidence  in  the  authority  to 
ordain  me  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  of  the  Bishop  from 
whom  I  received  orders,  that  alone  can  authorize  me  to  take 
upon  myself  "  the  ministry  of  souls j"  an  office  that,  in  God's 
Church  economy,  not  even  an  angel  has  ever  had  committed 
to  him,  and  which  no  angel,  "  who  hearkens  unto  the  voice 
of  His  word,"  would  ever  dare  to  assume  without  authority 
from  Christ.  The  office  of  a  minister  of  the  cross  is  one  of 
fearful  responsibility,  as  well  as  of  infinite  dignity.  It  stands 
pre-eminently  above  regal  station,  and  all  mere  earthly  state  : 
for  to  its  authority  princes  bend  and  kings  obey  as  unto 
Christ.  At  the  hand  of  the  humblest  deacon  the  Imperial 
Autocrat  kneels  to  receive  "  the  cup  of  blessing"  that  he  has 
blessed ;  before  the  youthful  village  curate,  Wellington,  the 
hero-warrior  of  the  age,  is  seen  receiving  humbly  the  seal  of 
his  mystical  union  with  Christ,  his  Lord's  body. 

And  not  only  in  power  and  in  earthly  precedence  is  the 
ministry  of  the  cross  elevated  above  the  sword  and  sceptre, 
but  in  tremendous  personal  responsibility  it  is  an  office  which 
no  man  should  covet  even  when  lawfully  instituted  into  it ; 
for  it  is  enough  for  a  man  to  stand  and  be  judged  of  God  for 
his  own  soul ;  and  who  may  abide  the  winnowing  of  his  own 
life.  But  when  to  this  common  responsibility  of  all  is  added 
the  responsibility  of  the  souls  of  others  also,  then  may  a  man 
tremble  at  accepting  it.  Then  may  he  well  and  properly 
shrink  from  the  terrible  weight  of  human  endorsement  to 
which  he  commits  himself  forever,  for  weal  or  for  woe. 
The  sacred  office,  alas !  is  no  security  for  the  holder's 
salvation ;  for  holy  Paul  shuddered  lest,  after  preaching  to 
others,  he  should  himself  become  a  castaway.  No  man,  ex- 
officio,  is  nearer  Heaven  for  being  a  minister;  while  his 
perils  are  greater  than  were  he  not  one,  both  for  himself  and 
those  for  whose  souls  he  becomes  responsible  to  Christ.  For 
God  has  made  the  Christian  ministry  responsible  for  the  souls 
of  those  over  whom  it  is  set.      Hear  the  solemn  words  of  the 


102  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

Lord  to  Ezekiel :  aLo!  thou  son  of  man,  I  have  set  thee  a 
watchman  unto  the  house  of  Israel ;  therefore  thou  shalt  hear 
the  word  at  their  mouth  and  warn  them  from  me.  When  I 
say  unto  the  wicked,  0  wicked  man,  thou  shalt  surely  die  ; 
if  thou  dost  not  speak  to  warn  the  wicked  from  his  way,  that 
wicked  man  shall  die  in  his  iniquity ;  hut  his  hlood  will  1 
require  at  your  hand." 

Such,  then,  being  the  dreadful  responsibility  of  the  Chris- 
tian ministry,  a  sensitive  and  right-minded  man  would  rather 
shrink  from  it  like  Moses,  when  he  excused  himself  before 
God,  than  rush  into  it  like  Korah.  The  more  deeply  this 
responsibility  is  felt,  the  more  reluctant  he  will  be  to  take  it 
upon  himself.  This  holy  diffidence  might  well  be  given  as  a 
reason  for  there  being  but  1650  men  in  the  ministry  of  the 
Church,  while  you  number  16,000. 

Moreover,  a  man  should  be  conscientiously  cautious,  that 
when  he  does  make  up  his  mind  to  enter  the  Gospel  minis- 
try, that  he  has  not  only  the  inward  call,  (which  is  evidence 
alone  to  himself,)  but  the  outward  authority,  conveyed  by  the 
authoritative  ministry  instituted  by  Christ,  which  lawful 
commission  before  the  world  is  to  stand  of  equal  authority 
with  the  evidence  of  the  miracles  which  Christ  withdrew,  re- 
placing them  by  this  "  witness  of  the  succession."  Thus, 
though  he  have  "  no  miracles"  to  give  proof  to  the  world 
that  he  is  sent  of  God,  he  has  the  equal  authority  of  miracu- 
lous evidence  in  his  apostolical  ordination.  The  succession, 
if  I  may  so  express  myself,  was  appointed  for,  and  is  a  con- 
tinuous miracle  of  the  divine  authority  to  which  every  law- 
fully ordained  minister  can  point  in  testimony  that  he  is 
sent  of  God. 

Unless,  therefore,  my  brother,  I  was  sure  that  I  had  such 
ordination,  I  should  sternly  question  my  right  to  preach, 
baptize,  administer  the  Lord's  Supper,  or  to  receive  a  dollar  for 
ministerial  services.  It  would  be  "  receiving  money  under 
false  pretences,"  and  more,  offering  pardon  and  heaven  to 


NUMBER   ELEVEN.  103 

men  and  women,  sinners  like  myself,  when,  whatever  the 
apostles  and  their  apostolic  ministry  might  do,  /,  at  least, 
have  no  right  to  do.  It  would  be  sailing  without  orders. 
It  would  be  taking  upon  myself  the  office  of  Justice  of  the 
Peace  without  a  commission.  I  might,  indeed,  make  a  very 
good  Justice,  be  learned,  talented,  of  good  character,  and  be 
a  great  lover  of  justice  and  of  peace  ;  but  my  acts  would  not 
be  valid  in  the  State,  nor  would  my  marriage  license  law- 
fidli/  marry.  I  might  say  that  A  and  B  were  man  and 
wife,  and  they  might  believe  so,  not  knowing  that  I  acted 
without  authority  j  but  the  "  Powers  that  be"  would  not  re- 
cognize the  validity  of  my  acts. 

There  must  be  a  source  of  authority,  one  undivided  unity, 
from  which  all  authority;  whether  in  Church  or  State,  must 
go  forth,  and  to  which  it  must  trace  up  itself.  "Without  such 
a  head,  the  world  will  say,  as  some  of  the  unlearned  early 
Christians  said,  "lam  of  Paul"— "I  of  Cephas"— "  I  of 
Christ !"  Without  such  a  helm  of  the  Church  as  the  seat 
of  authority  and  the  throne  of  the  guiding  power,  directing 
the  Christian  ark  through  the  stormy  seas  of  ecclesiastical 
disunion,  lo  !  anarchy,  confusion,  disorder,  and  licentious  im- 
patience of  all  authority  would  ensue,  and  every  one  crying, 
"  Here  is  Christ  !"  or  "  There  is  Christ !"  he  would  really  be 
found  nowhere ;  or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  found  without 
a  certainty  that  it  is  He.  Jl  priori,  by  every  argument 
drawn  from  nature  and  morals,  Jesus  must  have  organized  a 
perpetual  ministry — as  trees  grow,  and  solar  attraction  binds 
the  most  remote  worlds  to  the  sun — or  the  Church  would  not 
have  survived  two  centuries  after  the  apostles'  days.  Here 
and  there  a  fragment  of  the  noble  wreck,  strewn  upon  the 
distant  shores  of  the  nineteenth  century,  would  reveal  to  the 
world  the  splendor  of  the  mighty  ship  of  the  Church,  when 
directed  by  the  apostles;  but  only  fragments,  which  no  art 
or  device  of  man  could  reframe  as  before. 

Sir,  you  perceive  that  I  believe  with  all  my  heart  in  an 
9* 


104  PAMPHLETS   FOR  TIIE   PEOPLE. 

Apostolic  ministry,  represented  immediately  by  the  Episco- 
pate. "Would  that  I  could  persuade  you  of  the  truth  of  this 
doctrine,  so  full  of  comfort  and  hope  to  the  sincere  Christian, 
and  which  sustains  me  in  all  my  trials.  It  stamps  a  dignity 
and  glory  upon  the  Church  as  such,  that  no  human  hand 
can  impress,  and  gives  to  believers  an  assurance  of  faith  that 
nothing  earthly  can  remove. 

"  Too  oft  the  Church  is  self-election  now 

Its  creed  men's  will; 
And  few  avow 

That  Christ  is  throned  in  Christian  temple  still; 
A  presence  and  a  glory  there 
Receiving  praise  and  hearing  prayer." 

This  sang  Montgomery,  the  true  poet  of  the  Church.  Thus 
teaches  Scripture,  thus  proclaims  history,  thus  respond  the 
holy  sacraments,  and  thus  proclaims  faith ;  and  to  this  divine 
doctrine  every  true  heart  in  the  Church  throbs  with  joy  and 
hope.  Christ  is  in  the  Church  !  and  though  he  may  seem 
to  sleep  to  the  eyes  of  the  timid  and  fearful  of  his  disciples, 
he  will,  assuredly,  when  dangers  threaten,  rise  in  his  majesty, 
and  waving  his  hand  above  the  tempestuous  waves  of  human 
passions,  fiercely  beating  against  the  sides  of  his  Church, 
authoritatively  command,  " Peace  !  be  still" 

Yours,  fraternally, 

Justus. 


r.UiniLETS  FOR  THE  TEOPLE. 


NUMBER  TWELVE. 


addressed  to  the  rev.  r.  abbey,  of  tne  metiiodist  episcopal  church, 
soctii. 

My  Brother  : 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  the  discussion  of  one  or  two 
more  subjects  from  your  Book,  and  then  close  my  review  of  it. 
In  bringing  to  a  termination  your  XVIII  Letters  against 
the  Bishop  of  Mississippi  and  his  Orders  Apostolical,  you 
say  — 

"  It  is  a  fixed  and  settled  fact,  that  the  world  regards  you 
as  the  Intermediate  CiiURcn,  between  Protestantism  and 
Romanism.  This  is  the  place  you  occupy,"  you  add,  "  your 
position  is  such  that  your  face  is  towards  Rome." 

My  brother,  you  have  written  in  all  your  book  nothing 
more  true  than  these  words.  It  is  refreshing  to  see  you,  at 
the  close  of  it,  admit  a  fact  to  our  credit,  unqualified  after- 
wards by  any  retrousscment .  This  is  an  honor  we  have  long 
contended  was  peculiarly  our  own,  and  which  we  still  con- 
tend for,  and  I  am  gratified  to  see  that  you  so  frankly  admit 
the  fact,  and  do  not  take  it  back. 

"We  do  stand  between  Dissent  and  Papacy.  This  is  our 
Church's  position  in  the  Providence  of  God.  An  intermediate 
position  is  always,  ecclesiastically,  one  of  honor.  The  pillar 
of  cloud  stood  between  Egypt  and  Israel,  and  the  Spirit  of 
God  was  in  the  cloud  !  Our  blessed  Lord  was  a  "  Days-man," 
who  stood  between  the  race  of  Adam  and  their  Creator,  to 
reconcile  both  in  one  body.  The  Episcopal  Church  does, 
indeed  and  in  truth,  hold  an  intermediate  position  between 

(105) 


106  PAMPHLETS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

Protestantism  and  Papacy.  You  add,  moreover,  that  "  our 
face  is  toicards  Rome."  A  brave  man  between  two  foes  will 
usually  face  the  most  formidable  of  the  two ;  therefore  we  do 
not  fear  to  face  Ptome.  We  face  her  as  one  hostile  army 
faces  another !  And  with  God's  help,  under  the  uplifted 
banner  of  the  Anglican  Reformation,  we  will  do  battle  with 
her  "  for  the  truth  once  delivered  to  the  Saints." 

Our  Church  is  the  very  bulwark  that  stands  between  Rome 
and  the  nations  !  But  for  her  conservative '  attitude,  Rome 
would  over-run  Protestanism,  until  the  very  name  of  Dissent 
would  be  washed  out,  as  a  sum  is  wiped  from  a  slate,  in 
blood.  The  Anglican  Church,  in  God's  Providence,  is  the 
bulwark  of  your  safety,  the  very  "  Keeper  of  the  Truth,"* 
so  long  as  it  holds  the  intermediate  position  which  it  does, 
Romanism  will  not  achieve  the  reconquest  of  Christendom ; 

*  You  have  objected  to  the  doctrine  that  "  the  Church"  is  the  keeper  and 
expounder  of  the  Scriptures,  and  that  her  voice  in  council  is  the  true  ex- 
pression of  the  doctrines  of  Christ;  and  that  as  such,  men,  casting  aside 
private  interpretation,  should  receive  them. 

But,  sir,  what  has  your  Church  substituted  for  this  " voice  of  the 
Church."  I  will  quote  only  two  lines  from  a  note  to  an  article,  elaborately 
■written,  on  "The  Methodist  Doctrines,"  originally  appearing  in  the  London 
Methodist  Magazine,"  in  1818,  and  copied  in  the  same  year  into  the  Ame- 
rican Methodist  Magazine ;  consequently  it  is  the  doctrine  of  Methodists 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  : — 

"It  is  in  general  well  known  to  the  Ilethodists,  tliat  his  (Mr.  "Wesley's) 
notes  on  the  New  Testament  and  Sermons,  are  the  legal  Standard  of  our 
Doctrines." 

There  seems  to  be  no  call  for  many  words  of  remark  upon  this  extra- 
ordinary acknowledgment.  The  wisdom  and  learning  and  piety  and  au- 
thority of  the  whole  English  Church,  in  council  assembled,  aside  from  the 
divine  authority  investing  their  decisions  substituted  for  the  "notes  on 
the  New  Testament  and  Sermons  of  Mr.  Wesley  !  What  is  this  but  ig- 
noring private  interpretation  in  your  body,  and  establishing  the  most 
absolute  authoritative  tribunal,  a  Bench  of  Interpretation,  only  paralelled 
by  the  infallible  throne  of  the  Pope.  The  Decrees  of  Trent  are  "  the  legal 
standard"  of  Romish  doctrines  !  the  opinions  of  Wesley  in  his  tt.  Xotes 
and  Sermons,"  the  "legal  standard"  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Methodists! 
And  yet  you  charge  us  with  ignoring  private  interpretation! 


NUMBER   TWELVE.  107 

nor  will  Dissent,  when  it  shall  be  shivered  into  its  destined 
legion  of  fragments,  be  reabsorbed  into  Papacy;  but  into 
the  "Intermediate  Church/'  as  its  true  and  proper  shelter 
and  house  of  God. 

You  close  your  attack  upon  us  by  an  appeal,  no  doubt  very 
sincerely  made,  to  the  Bishop  of  Mississippi,  to  cast  away  the 
"  ball  and  chain"  of  succession,  and  stand  side  by  side  with 
you  and  your  brethren  in  doing  battle  for  God.  M  Patheti- 
cally, "  you  cry,  "  I  ask  you  as  a  brother,  will  you  not  drop 
it  and  come  back  to  a  purer  and  truer  faith,  among  a  more 
genial  and  useful  ministry,  where  you  may  do  much  good?" 

I  perceive,  my  brother,  that  you  furtively  design  to  bring 
about  a  practical  working  of  our  "intermediate  position,"  and 
as  one  of  our  Bishops  has  gone  over  to  the  regular  troops  of 
the  Roman  line,  you  now  seek  to  tempt  that u  '  distinguished/ 
( talented/  'able/  'exemplary/  'pious/  'zealous/  'urbane/ 
'  frank/  '  engaging/  '  friendly/  '  sincere'  '  Christian  gentle- 
man/ "*  to  the  volunteer  army  "  in  the  rear."  Like  a 
distinguished  officer  in  the  American  nation  militant,  this 
Apostolic  Bishop  in  the  Church-militant,  might  fear  his 
"  enemies  in  the  rear"  too  far  to  trust  them.  At  least  your 
Book,  and  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  conceived,  penned,  pub- 
lished and  circulated,  will  hardly  give  him  confidence  in  the 
practical  Christianity  of  "  the  purer  faith  and  truer,"  to 
which  you  invite  him. 

But,  sir,  without  raising  a  question  upon  your  modesty  in 
making  this  appeal  to  the  courteous  amenities  and  kindly 
sensibilities  of  the  Bishop  of  Mississippi,  "  which  are  abun- 
dantly known  to  every  body  that  knows  him,"  permit  me  to 
ask  you  where  you  and  your  Church  were  before  the  revolu- 
tionary war ;  yes,  before  the  year  1786 !  Not  long  since  I 
met  with  an  old  man  from  Virginia,  who  quaintly  said,  "  why 
J  am  older  than  the  Methodist  Church  myself." 

*  See  Rev.  Mr.  Abbey's  Preface,  including  nine  lines  from  tho  bottom 
of  first  page. 


108  PAMPHLETS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

"Where,  then  was  your  Church  in  the  world  in  the  days  of 
this  old  man's  father  and  mother?  "Was  heaven's  gate  shut 
up  until  Dr.  Coke's  Advent  ?  I  can  say  with  truth,  and  you 
cannot  gainsay  it,  my  brother,  that  there  never  went  a 
Methodist  to  heaven  for  the  first  seventeen  hundred  years 
after  Christ  ascended  and  entered  into  it !  No,  not  one !  and 
for  a  very  good  reason,  because  there  was  not  a  Methodist  on 
the  earth. 

For  centuries  ere  your  Church  began,  from  every  green 
valley  in  Christian  England,  from  the  heart  of  her  populous 
cities,  from  the  humble  hamlets  on  her  hillsides,  millions  of 
Christian  men  and  women,  old  and  young,  fair  and  brave, 
pastors  and  people,  Bishops  and  priests,  went  up  to  God,  dying 
in  the  Church  and  in  the  faith  which  you  have  now  risen  up 
to  spurn  and  affect  to  despise  !  You,  sir,  a  man  of  but  yester- 
day, revile,  as  you  have  done,  in  your  book,  a  Church  of  Christ, 
"  adorned  with  martyrs  and  glittering  with  saints,"  whose 
praise  is  known  in  heaven  and  on  earth  !  "  A  Church  which 
has  translated  and  given  to  you  the  very  Bible  out  of  which 
you  and  all  yours  draw  the  nourishment  of  the  milk  of  the 
word  of  life  !  A  Church  that  stands  between  you  and  Rome 
as  your  bulwark,  and  which  bears  in  all  her  lineaments  the 
features  of  Christ  and  of  his  Apostles  !  Sir,  I  cannot  but 
pray  God  to  give  you  a  better  mind  and  to  turn  your  heart. 

Permit  me  to  give  you  a  brief  outline  of  the  history  of 
your  Church,  not,  my  brother,  for  your  information,  per- 
haps, but  for  that  of  some  among  your  people  who  are  little 
taught  by  their  Clergy,  very  judiciously  I  am  disposed  to 
think,  the  antecedents  of  their  communion. 

Dr.  Coke,  and  Mr.  Asbury  were,  without  dispute,  the  real 
founders  of  the  "  Methodist  Society  in  America."  Mr. 
"Wesley,  as  I  shall  show  you,  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
organization  of  the  American  Methodists,  as  independent  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  in  England.  The  men  whom  he  set 
apart  to  govern  the   Methodists  in  the  United  States,   and 


NUMBER   TWELVE.  100 

who  afterwards  ambitiously  made  one  another  "  Bishops/1 
were  not  satisfied  altogether  with  the  validity  of  their  Epis- 
copal orders,  after  "Wesley's  severe  rebuke  :  "  How  dare  you 
call  yourself  Bishops  ?"  They  formally  applied,  both  to 
Bishop  "White,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  to  Bishop  Seabury,  of 
Connecticut,  for  lawful  consecration,  to  the  Episcopate,  by 
the  laying  on  of  their  hands;  and  when  this  application  was 
unsuccessful,  because  they  wished  to  evade  the  lawful  con- 
ditions and  issues  for  canonical  consecration  that  obtain  in 
the  Church,  Dr.  Coke,  crossing  the  seas,  subsequently  applied 
to  the  English  Church  for  Consecration,  as  "  Bishop  to  the 
East  Indies/'  which  honor  was  denied  to  him. 

It  is  claimed  by  the  lu'yh  party  in  your  Church,  that 
although  the  quasi  Episcopal  office,  received  by  Mr.  Asbury, 
from  Dr.  Coke,  (who  had  it  not  to  give,)  be  acknowledged  to 
be  of  no  value,  yet  nevertheless  your  Church  and  ministra- 
tions are  valid  (your  low  church  party,  of  which  I  perceive 
you  are  a  prominent  organ,  not  reverencing  hereditary  or- 
ders,) because  they  are  derived  from  men  who  were  "  pres- 
byterially"  ordained  in  the  English  Church  by  lawful  author- 
ity, and  therefore  had  a  canonical  right  and  the  lawful 
authority  to  do  what  they  did  in  instituting  an  independent 
ministry  and  communion. 

Now,  the  English  Church,  as  such,  does  not  hold  the 
doctrine  of  the  validity  of  Presbyterian  ordination,  whatever 
the  sentiments  of  individuals  in  her  communion  may  be. 
If  then  the  English  Church  considers  such  ordinations  as  un- 
lawful, they  are  consequently  not  her  acts.  A  violation  of 
this  rule  and  doctrine  by  any  number  of  persons,  will  consti- 
tute them,  so  long  as  this  rule  is  held  by  the  Church,  a  new 
sect ;  and  they  cannot  be  recognized  by  the  Church  as  a  part 
of  itself.  A  party  of  American  citizens,  leaving  the  United 
States,  and  setting  up  a  colony  in  Cuba,  contrary  to  the 
laws  and  rules  of  the  government  at  home,  is  no  longer  re- 
cognized as  pari  of  the  nation,  but  as  so  wholly  severed  from 


110  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

it,  as  to  be  treated  with  only  under  the  laws  of  outlawry. 
The  President  and  public  officers  of  this  colony  would  not  be 
"fellowshipped,"  as  the  phrase  is,  by  the  United  States;  its 
diplomatic  representative  ministers,  if  sent  to  Washington, 
would  not  be  received  :  nor  would  its  assertion  that  it  came 
out  from  the  United  States,  and  was  therefore  a  legiti- 
mate colony,  and  part  of  her,  be  admitted  by  Congress. 
The  force  of  this  illustration  your  high  church  party  cannot 
but  see.  But,  though  it  could  be  proved,  or  the  Church  were 
disposed  to  concede  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wesley  was  competent 
to  ordain  other  men  to  the  Christian  ministry,  and  even  to 
create  a  Bishop  by  the  laying  on  of  his  hands,  yet  u  it  must 
be  done  in  the  Church  and /or  the  Church/'  The  minis- 
terial office  of  the  Church  of  England  could  only  be  lawfully 
exercised  by  one  of  its  ministers  in  "acts"  for  the  Church, 
and  within  it.  Let  me  illustrate  this  subject,  as  I  wish  to 
be  perfectly  comprehended ;  writing  not  to  display  learning, 
by  scholarly  references  to  books,  but  to  be  understood 
by  the  humblest  mind,  in  your  Church  and  mine,  that 
reads. 

Ordination  is  a  power  in  the  Church,  given  "  for  the  pur- 
pose of  supplying  the  Church  with  men  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry,  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  and  for  the  edifying 
the  body  of  Christ f  all  of  which  is  to  be  done  in  the  Church, 
by  those  receiving  the  Church's  ordination,  or  the  ministerial 
gift  of  authority  thus  conveyed  is  null  and  void.  A  governor 
sent  out  to  the  territory  of  Washington  would  not  be  a  law- 
ful governor  in  the  territory  of  Oregon.  His  official  charac- 
ter would  cease  so  soon  as  he  began  to  exercise  it  out  of  and 
beyond  the  lawful  limits  to  which  his  commission  confined 
him.  Suppose  three  or  four  ministers,  ordained  by  the 
Church  of  England,  should  afterwards  go  forth  and  preach 
Mormon  doctrines,  and  by  ordaining  a  ministry  among  the 
Mormons,  and  elevating  Brigham  Young  to  the  rank  of 
"  Bishop,"  do  you  think  that  the  Church  of  England  would 


NUMBER    TWELVE.  Ill 

recognize  the  ordinations;  would  you  fellowship  with  its 
ministers  in  parity  ? 

You  thus  perceive,  my  brother,  that  those  who  receive 
authority  for  one  purpose,  as  did  Mr.  Wesley  and  Dr.  Coke, 
to  exercise  it  lawfully  in  the  Church  of  England^  if  they  ex- 
ercised it  for  any  other  purpose  not  intended  by  the  Church, 
"  their  acts  out  of  the  Church  would  have  no  validity  or 
force  whatever." 

Mr.  Wesley  himself  admitted  the  truth  of  this  doctrine, 
and  he  says  : — 

"  At  the  first  meeting  of  all  our  preachers  in  conference, 
in  June,  1744,  I  exhorted  them  to  keep  in  the  Church ;  ob- 
serving that  this  was  our  peculiar  glory — not  to  form  any  new 
sect,  but  abiding  in  our  own  Church,  to  do  all  men  all  the 
good  we  possibly  could.  But  as  more  '  dissenters'  joined 
us,  many  of  whom  were  much  prejudiced  against  the  Church, 
these,  with  or  without  design,  were  continually  infusing  tJteir 
own  prejudices  into  their  brethren.* 

"  I  saw  this,"  continues  Mr.  Wesley,  u  and  gave  learning 
of  it  from  time  to  time,  both  in  private  and  in  public ;  and 
in  the  year  1758,  I  resolved  to  bring  the  subject  to  a  fair 
issue.  So  I  desired  the  point  might  be  considered  at  large 
whether  it  was  expedient  for  the  Methodists  to  leave  THE 
Church.  The  arguments  on  both  sides  were  discussed  for 
several  days,  and  at  length  we  agreed  without  a  dissenting 
voice : — 

"  l  It  is  by  no  means  expedient  that  the  Methodists 

SHOULD  LEAVE  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.'  " 

In  1778,  Mr.  Wesley  says  again  : — 
"  The  original  Methodists  were  all  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  the  more  awakened  tlicy  were  the  more  zealously 


*  It  is,  no  doubt,  historically  true,  that  the  Baptists  and  Presbyterians.. 
Brownists,  and  others,  made  the  Methodists  the  cat's  paw  of  their  hatred 
of  the  Church,  and  are  the  real  authors  of  the  Methodist  schism. 

10 


112  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

they  adhered  to  it  in  every  point,  both  of  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline." 

You  know  that  March  2d,  1791,  Mr.  Wesley  died.  Two 
years  before  his  decease,  in  1789,  he  said  : — 

"  I  never  designed  separating  from  the  Church  ;  Ihave  no 
such  design  now.  I  do  not  believe  the  Methodists  in  general 
design  it,  when  I  am  no  more  seen.  I  do,  and  will  do  all 
that  is  in  my  power  to  prevent  such  an  event.  Nevertheless, 
in  spite  of  all  I  can  do,  many  will  separate  from  it.  In 
flat  opposition  to  these,  I  declare  once  more  that  I  live  and 
die  a  member  or  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  that 
none  who  regard  my  judgment  or  advice  will  ever  separate 
from  it." 

In  a  sermon,  preached  in  Ireland,  not  long  before  the  year 
of  his  death,  he  said  to  the  preachers  in  his  connection,  that 
u  they  had  no  right  to  baptize  and  administer  the  sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  Supper."  Mr.  Wesley's  design  was  "to  im- 
prove the  state  of  religion  in  the  Church."  But,  as  he  said, 
he  did  not  dare  to  leave  the  Church ;  and  on  the  minutes  of 
the  conference  in  1770,  he  had  these  emphatic  words 
entered : — 

"  Let  this  be  well  observed — I  fear  when  the  Methodists 
leave  the  Church,  GrOD  will  leave  them." 

Fraternally  yours, 

Justus. 


PAMPHLETS  POR  THE  TEOPLE. 


NUMBER    THIRTEEN. 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.  R.  ABBEY,  OF  TnE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 
SOUTH. 

My  Brother  : 

If  Mr.  Wesley  be  the  founder  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,  as  your  high  church 
people  contend,  he  must,  in  the  face  of  the  facts,  advanced 
at  the  close  of  my  last  pamphlet,  either  be  open  to  a  charge 
of  the  grossest  inconsistency,  or  have  been  a  masterly  hypo- 
crite ;  you  cannot  escape  both  issues.  But  Mr.  AVesley  was 
an  honest  and  consistent  man  ;  a  conscientious  Clergyman  of 
our  Church  to  the  last,  and  is  no  more  responsible  for  the 
schism  of  your  Church,  than  John  Calvin  or  Ezekiel  Holli- 
man;  and  when  your  high  church  preachers  refer  to  Mr. 
Wesley,  as  the  ground  for  the  validity  of  their  orders,  they 
do  but  condemn  themselves.  On  the  principle  sometime 
above  argued,  Mr.  Wesley's  ordinations  or  u  separation"  of 
certain  men  for  governing  the  American  Methodist  Society, 
being  made  use  of  for  another  than  the  legitimate  purpose 
for  which  he  gave  the  authority,  the  ministerial  acts  of  Dr. 
Coke  and  of  Mr.  Asbury,  out  of  the  Church  of  England,  are 
invalid  and  of  no  lawful  force  whatsoever ;  just  as  Mr.  Wesley's 
own  official  acts,  as  an  Anglican  minister,  if  exerted  out  of, 
and  in  opposition  to,  the  unity  of  the  Church  of  his  ordina- 
tion, would  be  of  no  value.  If  I  authorize  a  man  to  sign 
my  name  to  a  subscription  paper,  and  he  signs  it  to  a  note 
of  hand,  the  signature  is  of  no  recognized  value  in  law,  inas- 
much as  it  was  not  used  for  the  specific  purpose  for  which 
the  authority  to  make  use  of  it  was  bestowed. 

(113) 


114  PAMPHLETS   FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

With  the  low  Church  party  in  your  Church,  which  is  un- 
willing to  admit  that  an  hereditary  ministry  (whether  of 
Presbyters  or  Bishops)  is  necessary,  but  thinks  that  "  the 
people  in  the  pews,"  have  quite  as  much  authority,  if  they 
believe  they  have,  to  preach  to  him  in  the  pulpit,  as  he  in 
the  pulpit  to  preach  to  them  in  the  pews,  with  this  low 
Church  party,  this  argument  has  no  weight ;  for  if  Mr.  Wes- 
ley stands  in  the  way  of  their  self-will,  they  excommunicate 
and  leave  AVesley,  as  promptly  as  they  did  the  Church. 
But  to  the  high  Church  party  among  you,  which  embraces 
the  most  intelligent  members,  both  clerical  and  lay,  of  your 
communion,  the  argument  is  of  weight,  and  must  make  its 
full  impression  upon  their  minds. 

Thus  I  have,  as  you  perceive,  glanced  at  the  authority  and 
conditions  by  which  the  Church,  into  whose  bosom  you  in- 
vite the  Bishop  of  Mississippi,  is  a  Church.  I  have  shown 
that  its  esse  is  irregular  and  without  Ecclesiastical  order,  and 
if  you  should  invite  John  Wesley  into  it,  supposing  he  were 
to  rise  from  the  dead,  he  would  refuse  quite  as  firmly  as  the 
Bishop  of  Mississippi  probably  will  do,  for  both  are  members 
of  the  same  Church,  both  deriving  their  authority  and  priestly 
orders  from  the  same  source.  Mr.  Wesley,  to  use  his  own 
language,  when  solicited  on  earth  to  leave  the  Church,  would 
decline  the  invitation  "on  the  point  of  conscience;"  and 
so,  I  think,  would  the  Bishop  of  Mississippi.  It  is  time,  sir, 
the  true  status  of  your  Church  should  be  distinctly  understood 
by  your  own  people.  Already  the  better  educated  are  closely 
investigating  its  origin,  and  they  not  only  do  not  perceive 
the  necessity  of  the  Coke-Asbury  schism,  nor  of  its  continu- 
ance )  and  thus  it  is  that  so  many  from  your  communion,  re- 
fusing to  endorse  the  separating  act  of  the  Methodist,  in 
1784-85,  or  to  pin  their  faith  to  the  skirts  of  Dr.  Coke's 
personal  ambition,  come  in  numbers  back  to  the  Apostolic 
communion,  from  which  the  prelatical  aspirations  of  Mr. 
Asbury  cut  them  off.    Your  reading,  and  thinking,  and  right- 


NUMBER   THIRTEEN.  115 

minded  mcn;  have  only  to  understand  the  true  history  of 
their  Church,  to  see  that  the  "  old  paths"  are  the  best  and 
safest.  And  in  return  for  your  polite  invitation  to  the 
Bishop  of  Mississippi,  let  me  anticipate  his  reciprocative 
courtesy,  by  inviting  you,  in  the  words  of  Jeremiah,  back  to 
the  fold  of  the  Church  : — 

"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Stand  ye  in  the  way,  and  ask  for 
the  old  paths]  where  is  the  good  way,  and  walk  therein,  and 
ye  shall  find  rest  for  your  souls."  Jere.  vi.  16. 

Touching  the  high  and  low  Church  "  party,"  which  you 
assert  the  Episcopal  Church  is  divided  into,  I  assure  you 
there  is  no  such  party.  In  political  bodies  there  exist  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  upon  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  party,  but 
these  are  individual  idiosyncracies,  and  they  do  not  shake  the 
unity  of  the  whole.  Such  diversity  of  opinion  is  wholly 
compatible  with  the  firmest  integral  union. 

In  the  Episcopal  Church  there  are  a  few  men  who  are 
ultra  in  their  views  of  ritual  observances ;  and  upon  certain 
doctrines  take  views  that  carry  them  beyond  the  actual  teach- 
ing and  practices  of  the  Church.  But  these  are  individual 
sentiments;  and  though  these  persons  write  books  to  dis- 
seminate their  peculiar  views,  their  books  are  not  the  "  books 
of  the  Church/'  in  so  far  as  they  depart  from  the  Common 
Prayer  Book.  There  are  churchmen  who  think  the  surplice 
should  alone  be  worn  in  the  chancel,  while  others  use  both  the 
surplice  and  the  black  gown :  the  former  would  be  called  "  high" 
Churchmen,  perhaps.  There  are  some  clergymen  who  pray 
with  their  faces  toward  the  communion  table,  which  they  in- 
sist on  calling  an  "  altar,"  while  others  can  pray  with  their 
faces  to  the  people  without  compunction.  The  former  would 
be  called  u  high  Church,"  the  latter  "  low."  There  are 
some  who  preserve  the  ancient  custom  of  bowing  at  the  name 
of  Jesus  in  the  Creed ;  others  that  do  not  bow.  The  former 
would  be  termed  "high,"  the  latter  "low."  There  are  others 
who  abide  strictly  by  the  Rubric  (printed  directions  in  what 
10* 


116  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

manner  we  snail  go  through  the  service),  while  others  are 
not  so  punctilious,  and  sometimes  kneel,  or  do  not  kneel,  at 
the  case  may  be.  There  are  some  who  insist  that,  verily,  in 
artlculo  of  baptism,  the  baptized  is  born  again,  and  de  facto, 
spiritually  regenerate.  There  are  others,  on  the  contrary, 
who  think  that  spiritual  regeneration  takes  place  be/ore  bap- 
tism. The  former  would  be  denominated  "  high  Church/' 
the  latter  "  low  Church." 

These  are  the  chief  points  of  difference,  and  they  affect 
mainly  external  rites ;  but  do  not  penetrate  beneath  the  sur- 
face. They  are  individual  notions,  and  no  more ;  as,  in  your 
own  denomination,  you  have  clergymen  who  oppose  shouting; 
who  love  to  have  every  thing  done  "  decently  and  in  order" 
in  God's  house ;  who  desire  "  women  to  keep  silence"  in 
your  Churches,  in  humble  obedience  to  the  positive  injunc- 
tions of  the  Gospel ;  who  wish  for  lay  representation ;  who 
think  conversions  can  take  place  elsewhere  than  at  revivals ; 
who  affect  the  pew-system;  who  oppose  and  advocate  steeples 
and  fine  architecture ;  who  love  hard  seats,  and  who  cushion 
their  pews ;  who  like  organs,  and  who  abhor  them ;  who 
believe  that  in  the  Episcopal  Church  there  are  some  good 
Christians,  and  that  Episcopalians  went  to  heaven  before  a 
Methodist  was  ever  known. 

Now,  my  brother,  supposing  that,  for  these  individual 
opinions,  I  say  you  have  two  parties  in  your  Church,  and 
that  the  Methodists  are  breaking  to  pieces,  and  are  on  the 
way  to  annihilation  therefor !  Yet  in  this  manner  you  rea- 
son against  us.  On  your  own  principles  I  have  a  just  right 
to  argue  to  these  conclusions  against  you  and  yours. 

Be  assured  the  high  and  low  Church  "parties,"  as  you 
term  this  personal  expression  of  individual  sentiment  in  the 
Episcopal  Church,  does  not  begin  to  menace  her  peace,  unity 
or  concord.  It  cannot  move  a  pillar  of  her  twelve  founda- 
tions !  The  JEgis  of  the  Church  protects  ever  the  whole 
against  a  part,  and  division  on  these  points  of  difference  can 


NUMBER   THIRTEEN.  117 

never  touch  her  vitality.  Every  where  within  her  holy 
borders,  the  clergy  of  the  Church  fraternize  and  dwell  together 
in  "  unity  of  spirit  and  in  the  bond  of  peace/'  and  love  one 
another  as  Christian  brethren  should.  Wherever  I  go,  in 
whatever  part  of  the  United  States  I  may  be,  a  stranger,  if 
there  is  an  Episcopal  clergyman  in  the  place,  then  do  I  know 
I  have  found  a  brother  and  &  friend.  I  ask  him  not,  nor  asks 
he  me,  whether  either  be  "high"  or  "low;"  we  have  no  such 
shiboleth  in  our  hosts  !  It  is  enough  that  we  are  ministers 
in  the  same  Apostolic  Church;  that  we  have  been  baptized 
with  the  same  baptism;  that  we  worship  at  the  same  altar; 
that  we  have  knelt  at  the  same  holy  Table ;  that  we  derive 
our  sacred  office  from  the  same  fountain  of  the  living  waters 
of  the  Succession  ;  that  we  worship  God  with  the  same  an- 
cient rites ;  that  we  pray  the  same  words  ;  that  we  love  the 
same  Church,  and  are  partakers  of  the  same  gracious  pro- 
mises. 

"  Eadem  arena, 
Communis  virtus,  atque  perennis  decus." 

To  be  an  Episcopal  Clergyman  is  a  passport  to  the  heart 
and  hearth  of  every  Clergyman  of  the  same  communion  in 
the  world,  whether  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  or  along 
the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  or  in  the  rural  valleys  and  cities 
of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  or  in  Canada,  or  in 
Nova  Scotia,  or  in  the  Indies,  and  the  distant  isles  of  the 
sea,  wherever  I  find  an  Episcopal  Clergyman,  I  find  a  brother 
in  him  and  he  in  me — or  find  a  Bishop,  I  find  in  him  an 
affectionate  father  in  Christ,  and  he  in  me  a  loving  and  reve- 
rential son. 

A  Church  thus  bound  together  in  its  heavenly  ministry, 
and  knit  together  in  the  unity  of  its  one  communion,  "  hold- 
ing the  Head,  which  is  Christ,"  cannot  be  broken ;  and  not 
the  gates  of  hell,  powerful  as  Satan  is,  aided  by  the  Church's 
foes,  shall  ever  prevail  against  it. 


118  PAMPHLETS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

Whereas  your  own  Church,  brother,  is  broken — ruptured 
already  into  two  unwieldly  masses,  and  goes  by  two  distinc- 
tive names ;  and  each  of  you  claim  to  be  the  Church.     But 
the   Methodist  Church  North  excommunicates  you  of  the 
South,  and  among  your  own  best  men  are  many  who  do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  "  there  is  no  Methodist  Church  South," 
that  the  "authority  ministerial,"  and  all  the  conditions  that 
make  a  Church,  are  with  that  North.     And  this  is  not  the 
end.     The  fragment  South,  has  recently  broken  again  in 
the  Georgia  conference,  on  the  question  of  lay  representation ; 
and  the  withdrawing  party  has  set  up  for  itself  a  separate 
communion.     This  is   but  the  beginning   of  the   end,  my 
brother.    Your  Church  cannot  be  perpetual.    It  had  the  ele- 
ments of  its  own  disorganization  interwoven  with  the  primary 
organization.     The  seeds  of  its  dissolution  were,  of  necessity, 
inherent  in  it.     The  blow  which  Dr.  Coke  and  Mr.  Asbury 
struck  upon  the  Rock  of  the  Church  to  break  off  your  schis- 
matic fragment,  flaioed  dangerously  and  fatally  the  severed 
portion.     The  flaws  were  not  at  first  visible,  but  time  and 
dust  has  revealed  and   opened  them,  and  separation  will  be 
added  to  separation  by  the  irresistible  laws  of  ecclesiastical 
geology,  until  the  original  shape  of  your  schism  no  longer  is 
apparent ;  and  out  of  the  fragmentary  parts  there  will  arise 
ambitious  men,   lesser  Cokes  and  Asburys,  who  will  build 
upon  the  ruins  new  "  Churches''  calling  them  by  their  own 
names,  or  the  grace  of  God,  peradventure,  may  mercifully 
guide  them  back  to  the  fold  from  which  they  have  wandered. 
Intermediate  between  the  two  extremes  of  Papacy  and  Dis- 
sent, the  Anglican  Church  to-day  firmly  takes  her  stand ; 
and  lifts  up  her  voice  as  a  witness  to  the  truth : 

"  She,  like  a  solid  rock  by  seas  enclosed, 
To  raging  winds  and  roaring  waves  exposed, 
From  Her  proud  summit  looking  down  disdains 
All  empty  menace,  and  unmoved  remains." 


NUMBER   THIRTEEN.  119 

Undaunted,  amid  the  storm,  she  gazes  with  divine  com- 
posure upon  her  foes  and  trusts  in  God. 

And  now,  in  concluding  my  review,  do  I  heartily  pray, 
my  brother,  that  Almighty  God,  who  built  His  Church  upon 
the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ 
himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone,  may  grant  "  all  Chris- 
tians be  so  joined  together  in  unity  of  spirit  and  in  the  bond 
of  peace,  that  they  may  be  a  holy  temple  acceptable  unto 
Him  :  and  especially  to  you,  my  dear  brother  in  Christ, 
(against  whom  I  have  written  not  in  anger,  but  in  love,  for 
my  Church's  defence,  to  which,  and  for  all  seeming  severity 
for  the  truth,  you  have  compelled  me,)  and  especially  to  you 
may  He  give  the  abundance  of  his  grace,  that  with  a  true 
and  honest  heart  you  may  desire  the  prosperity  of  his  holy 
Apostolic  Church,  and  profess  with  your  lips  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints." 

I  am  your  brother,  very  fraternally, 

Justus. 


THE    END. 


DUE  DATE 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 


I     II  I 

002 


II    llll 
137978 


KSX 


sre 


(&ol\xnxbia   ©olUflc 
in  tit*  Ckttn  of  JUnxt  JJoru 


Of-  HIT. 


PLAN,   OBJECT,   AND    EFFECTS 


OF    THE 


vMt&itmt  mimon$ 


IN 


THE   ^#ST    INDIES, 


{ 


London  i 

Printed  by  Joseph  Kogen,  Red-Lion-Street,  Clerkenwell : 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  WESLEYAN 
METHODIST  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY. 

1824. 


48 

diffusing  the  light  and  blessedness  of  Christianity 
over  the  pagan  mind  of  the  West  Indian  negro, 
we  know  that  it  is  an  object  which  lies  nearest 
their  hearts  to  render  their  connection  with  this 
class  of  our  fellow-men  the  means  of  promoting 
their  spiritual  and  eternal  benefit ;  and  that  to 
them  all  information  which  tends  to  shew  the 
practicability  of  their  case  being  reached  will  be 
acceptable. 

Called  to  consider  the  negro  character,  and 
to  notice  his  capabilities,  for  a  long  period  of 
time,  we  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  the 
slave  population  of  the  West  Indies  are  worthy 
of  the  Christian  sympathies  of  all  who  are  con- 
nected with  them.  Their  natural  peaceable 
disposition  has  been  proved  in  the  quiet  of  the 
Colonies,  so  seldom  agitated.  Where,  in  the 
history  of  states  holding  great  numbers  of  men 
in  a  state  of  bondage,  do  we  find  so  few  com- 
motions? revolts  so  rare?  and  obedience  so  im- 
plicit and  cheerful  ?  We  believe  in  no  instance. 
And  this  circumstance  will  not  be  overlooked 
by  those  who  now,  more  intently  than  ever, 
propose  to  promote  among  them  the  principles 
of  Christianity.  Wherever  any  degree  of  moral 
care,  and  patient  instruction,  has  been  afforded, 
they  have  rewarded  the  toil;  and  their  improve- 
ment, considering  their  deep  ignorance,  the 
strength   of  their  passions,  and  the   fewness  of 


19 

their  opportunities,  has  been  such  as  to  afibrd 
the  highest  gratification  to  those  who  have  had 
the  work  of  instructing  them,  and  to  those  pro- 
prietors who  have  encouraged  them  in  it.     They 
are   intelligent,    grateful,    docile,    affectionate ; 
sensible  of  all    kindness,   but  especially  of  the 
kindness  which   opens  to  them   the  fountain  of 
salvation,  and  puts  them  in  possession  of  the 
principles,  the  comforts,  and  hopes  of  religion. 
Thousands    of  them,  in  the  morality    of   their 
lives,  in  their  respectful  submission  as  servants, 
in  their  tenderness  as  parents,  in  their  filial  duty 
as  children,  have    gladdened  the  eye   and    the 
heart   of  those  who   have  been  connected  with 
them,     wherever    the    eye    could    be    attracted 
by  moral  objects,  or   the  heart   could   be  inte- 
rested in  the    conversion  of  a  "  soul  from   the 
error  of  his  way. "     They   have   lived    the   life, 
and  they  have  died  the  death   of  the  righteous. 
The  work  of  instructing  them  is  not  only  hope- 
ful,   but    its    success  is    certain,    under   God's 
blessing.     If  we  will  apply  the  means,  the  bene- 
fit must  follow  ;  great,   united,  and  persevering 
effort  is   certain  in  its  effect,   and  will  cover  the 
Colonies  with    those   interesting  moral    scenes, 
which  already,  here  and  there,   like  Oases  in  the 
desart,   present  their  salutary  streams  ami   their 
living  vegetation.      An  object   more  noble,  more 
intimately  connected  with  interests  at  once  so 


52 

in  seasons  of  excitement,  will  lead  to  excesses. 
Connected  as  the  Colonies  are  with  a  country 
w  here  the  press  is  free,  even  to  licentiousness, 
the  principles,  and  the  discussions  which  occur 
in  Parliament,  and  in  the  public  prints,  cannot 
be  kept  wholly  from  them.  There  are  free 
blacks  w  ho  can  read,  and  w  ho  inhabit  the  towns, 
w  ho  have  the  means  of  all  this  information  ;  and 
on  the  uninstructed  mind  evil-disposed  persons 
of  this  description  may  produce,  and  will  pro- 
duce, great  mischief.  What,  then,  is  the  pre- 
ventive? Nothing,  but  to  treat  the  negroes  as 
rational  and  moral  beings  ;  to  fill  those  minds 
with  truth,  which  wall  otherwise  receive  error ; 
to  provide  against  the  introduction  of  mis- 
chievous principles,  by  occupying  the  mind 
with  salutary  ones  ;  and  to  counteract  bad 
examples  by  encouraging  good  ones  ;  and  thus 
to  prepare  the  population  for  those  changes 
which  it  is  the  interest  of  all  parties,  and  cer- 
tainly a  great  national  duty,   to  promote. 

Thus  we  have  laid  open,  with  frankness,  the 
plans  of  the  Society  for  w  hich  we  act ;  and  if 
we  offer  any  agency  w  hich  that  Society  can  sup- 
ply for  promoting  the  religious  instruction  of 
the  negro  population,  we  again  begleave  to  say, 
that  neither  we,  nor  any  person  connected  with 
the  Society,  have,  in  any  sense  whatever,  the 
slightest    private   interest,    or  party  objects,   to 


promote.  The  Wesley  an  Mission  to  the  West 
Indies  was  commenced  on  a  principle  of  pure 
benevolence  :  the  funds  which  support  it  are  the 

voluntary  expressions  of  that  feeling.  The  Mis- 
sion has  grown  upon  us  from  year  to  year,  and 
is  still  enlarging.  It  now  exhibits,  in  large, 
peaceable,  and  moral  religious  societies  ;  in  re- 
gular marriage;  in  the  abolition  of  polygamy ; 
in  the  promotion  of  the  health,  and  temporal 
comfort  and  interest  of  the  slave;  what  may  be 
effected  by  large  and  united  exertion.  Should 
the  wise  and  moderate  plans  of  his  Majesty's 
Government  be  carried  into  effect,  the  efficiency 
of  our  own,  and  all  other  Missionary  and  other 
exertions  for  their  improvement,  will  be  greatly 
promoted.  The  abolition  of  Sunday  toil,  and 
Sunday  markets,  will  be  a  public  proclamation 
of  the  obligation  of  the  Decalogue,  and  give  it 
sanction  ;  and  time  for  efficient  instruction,  and 
the  decent  observance  of  God's  worship,  w  ill  be 
thus  obtained.  The  granting  to  marriage  the  sanc- 
tion of  law7,  will  render  this  difficult  branch  of  the 
work  of  a  Missionary  the  more  practicable,  and 
close  the  gate  which  pours  out  the  most  de- 
structive stream  of  immorality  over  the  islands. 
The  preventing  of  those  sales  which  now  fre- 
quently separate  man  and  wife,  and  parents  and 
children,  for  ever,  must  and  ought  to  follow  upon 
marriage,  and    will   add    to   il   another  sanction 


